IMMIGRATION Officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have intercepted an African woman who attempted to leave the country for Europe in the guise of being a Guatemalan citizen.
In a report to Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Jaime Morente, BI Port Operations chief Grifton Medina said the alleged Guatemalan, who identified herself as Desiree Dalila Sanchez, was nabbed last week at the departure area of NAIA.
Medina said the woman was about to board a China Airlines flight to Frankfurt, Germany, when she was intercepted by members of the BI’s travel control and enforcement unit.
“The officer inspecting her documents noticed irregularities on her passport and our forensic document examiners were able to confirm that the passport was fake,” he said.
According to Medina, the arrest is another addition to a series of interceptions of illegal aliens attempting to use Manila as a transit point to first world countries.
He said the scheme will not succeed as the agency has skilled officers and modern equipment that can detect fraud within seconds.
He reported that the passenger is now detained at the BI detention facility in Bicutan, Taguig, pending her prosecution for violating the country’s immigration act for using fake documents.
Initial investigation revealed that the woman presented a spurious Guatemalan passport with a counterfeit biographical page.
The passenger insisted that she is a Guatemalan citizen although she later confessed that both her parents are from the central African country of Cameroon.
Morente reminded all airport immigration authorities to be doubly vigilant during the peak season to ensure that aliens who attempt to use bogus travel documents are caught. (Jun Ramirez)