Government agents at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport blocked the entry of a Nigerian tourist caught in possession of fake documents.
Bureau of Immigration-Travel Control and Enforcement Unit chief Ma. Timotea Barizo said 30-year-old Onyebuchi Emmanuel Ukeje was denied entry last Feb. 4 upon his arrival at the NAIA Terminal 2.
Barizo said the foreigner had just arrived onboard a Philippine Airlines flight from Bangkok, Thailand when he was intercepted.
“He was denied entry and was included in our immigration blacklist for using a spurious immigration document which is a blatant violation of our immigration laws,” Barizo said.
According to TCEU supervisor Juan Carlo Gomez, the African passenger presented a Maltese passport and identity card.
But inconsistencies in his statements drew the suspicion of the immigration officer who referred the passenger to the TCEU for secondary inspection.
The passenger later admitted his true nationality and stated that he acquired his bogus travel papers in Malta for US$2,500 from a Maltese citizen of Nigerian descent.
The BI’s forensic document laboratory, which examined his travel documents, also certified that the Maltese passport he presented is counterfeit.
The passenger, using his Maltese passport, allegedly left Malta in late December and flew to South Africa and Bangkok before proceeding to Manila.
According to Ukeje, he secured the fake documents because he was facing a “terrible financial challenge in Malta” and wanted to leave “to start a new life.”
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente reiterated his warning to aliens who plan on using fake documents to enter the country.
“Apart from our highly trained officers, we are also using the latest technologies in fraud detection. These schemes will not pass,” he said.