The Bureau of Immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport held two Africans who recently attempted to enter and leave the country for Canada with fake Canadian visas.
The foreigners, identified as Etienne Makang Nformem, a Cameroonian national and Abdelmotalab Idris Himat Mohamed, a Sudanese were intercepted at the NAIA 1.
BI Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina said the Africans were arrested separately at the NAIA terminal 1 by members of the bureau’s travel control and enforcement unit.
“We were able to frustrate their plan to gain entry into Canada illegally because their fraudulent scheme did not escape the watchful eyes of our immigration officers at the airport,” Medina said.
He said the two Africans are just the latest catch in the BI’s intensified campaign in preventing international syndicates from using Manila as a jump-off point in smuggling illegal aliens to Canada.
“We are warning these syndicates to stop their nefarious activities because our men at the airports are experts in detecting fraudulent visas and passports,” Medina said, adding that the two Africans are now detained at the bureau pending prosecution for violating the immigration act.