Immigration agents intercept 2 Africans with fake visas

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) terminal 1. INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

MANILA, Philippines – Agents of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) arrested two Africans for using fake Canadian visas, the agency said Sunday.

The BI identified the Africans as Cameroonian Etienne Makang Nformem, 35, and Sudanese Abdelmotalab Idris Himat Mohamed, 29.

BI Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina said that its Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) apprehended two separately at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1.

“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 in a statement.

According to Medina, Nformem was intercepted last February 9 after he arrived in the country on a Gulf Air flight coming from Bahrain.

Nformen then claimed that he would be visiting his cousin and would be flying to Toronto, Canada, after three days.

However, immigration officers found that the Canadian visa on his passport was counterfeit.

Mohamed, meanwhile, was nabbed on February 13 as he tried to depart going to Toronto via a Philippine Airlines flight.

Mohamed’s Canadian visa was also found by the BI’s anti-fraud division as fake.

“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.

Both of the foreigners were detained at a BI facility, pending prosecution for violating the Immigration Act. /cbb