5 undocumented foreigners up for deportation

Inquirer files

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines — Immigration authorities have started deportation proceedings against four Indian nationals and a Malaysian who were intercepted at the port of this city on Wednesday morning.

Captain Larry Cendaña, commander of the Philippine Coast Guard-Zamboanga, said the five foreigners entered this city via backdoor without any pertinent documents.

“They entered this city illegally, based on our investigation, from Malaysia. They entered the Philippines via Tawi-Tawi using a speedboat, then upon reaching Bongao, still in Tawi-Tawi, they boarded a commercial vessel, MV Trisha Kerstin,” Cendaña said.

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The five foreigners and a Filipina used the speedboat that usually carries fuel oil from Malaysia to the Philippines.

Cendaña identified the four Indian nationals as Chohan Jagit, 36; Lakhwinder Singh Brar, 30; Parwinder Singh, 21; and Sukhraj Singh Dubb, 33. The Malaysian is Bryan Joel Ng, 25; and their Filipina friend is Judy Anne Evacuado, 24.

“These four Indians have been blacklisted to enter the country since 2004, especially Jagit. While Dubb was blacklisted in 2016 and the two others this 2024. We found out about this from the Bureau of Immigration,” Cendaña said.

“They were blacklisted because they entered our country without passports and they were carrying fake visas. They also presented unjustifiable reasons for their entry. We immediately handed them over to the Immigration officials here,” Cendaña said, assuring though that all the five don’t have criminal records from the countries they came from.

Based on the investigation, Jagit was residing in Bacolod and married a Filipina. They later separated and his visit to the Philippines was to visit his two children in Bacolod.

Ng claimed that he was just escorting Evacuado back to the Philippines after rescuing her from online trafficking.

“These are their stories but we need to dig deeper. We are also grateful to the crew members of Aleson Shipping for notifying our office about their presence,” Cendaña adds.