MANILA, Philippines — Four Chinese nationals were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) for presenting fake passports, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported Tuesday.
The four Chinese nationals identified as Chen Zhijian, Wang Wenjie, Wang Anding, and Wang Mingdi arrived at Terminal 3 from Dubai last November 18 when they attempted to enter the country with bogus passports.
The BI’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) said immigration officers grew suspicious of the foreign nationals after they presented Paraguay passports.
They were later referred to the BI TCEU for further inspection while the BI’s forensic documents laboratory also confirmed that the passports presented by the foreign nationals were fake.
“Upon interview, all four were unable to converse even in basic Spanish, which is the language used in Paraguay, which strengthened our doubt,” BI TCEU member Kate Martinez is quoted as saying in a statement.
“They likewise failed to show any other identification documents proving that they are citizens of that country,” she added.
Martinez said the passengers later confessed and surrendered their Chinese passports which were inside their luggage.
BI TCEU Chief Ma. Timotea Barizo reported that three of the four passengers were issued exclusion orders and were booked on the first available flight back to their port of origin.
Chen Zhijian, meanwhile, has a valid Special Retiree’s Resident Visa, thus he was instead turned over to BI’s Legal Division for his deportation.
Barizo said all four foreign nationals will be included in the immigration’s blacklist.