Immigration authorities on Thursday held three foreigners who tried to leave the Ninoy Aquino International Airport with fake travel documents in what appeared to be another foiled human smuggling operation by an international syndicate.
In a report to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, immigration officers said they intercepted Njang Simon Egbe from Cameroon and Bangladeshis Sayedul Haque Bhuiyan and Md Sakhaowat Hossain Sohag at the Naia when they presented bogus travel papers.
BI Port Operations Chief Marc Mariñas said these passengers were clients of an international human smuggling syndicate that manufactures and sells fraudulent and counterfeit travel documents.
All three aliens are detained at the BI detention facility in Taguig City pending deportation proceedings.
Egbe was reportedly caught attempting to leave Naia 3 with a tampered French passport to enter France, while the Bangladeshis were about to depart for Toronto, Canada when they were intercepted at the Naia 2 terminal.
The African presented his passport, but the immigration officer who examined it noticed alterations in the bio-page of the document, which was later confirmed as counterfeit by BI anti-fraud specialists.
Meanwhile, the Bangladeshis aroused suspicion after they presented an approved electronic travel authority to Canada.
Verification with the Canadian embassy revealed that while the said ETAs were genuine, they were fraudulently obtained due to misrepresentation.
The embassy also said the Bangladeshis could not possibly enter Toronto, as they did not have visas to enter Canada.