Undies yield passport in foiled human smuggling at Naia

Immigration officers at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) foiled early Tuesday night an alleged attempt to smuggle an illegal alien into the United States using Manila as a transit point.

Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. on Wednesday announced the arrest of Tan Pang Kwang, a Singaporean believed to be working as a courier for a human trafficking syndicate, and the supposed victim Lin Xiao Mei, a Chinese woman who carried a fake Singaporean passport.

David said the two passengers were intercepted at around 6 p.m. at one of the departure gates of Naia Terminal 2 as they were about to board a Philippine Airlines flight to Los Angeles.

Tan and Lin were barred from leaving after immigration officers detected that the Singaporean passport used by Lin was fake.

Lin’s Chinese passport was later found concealed in her underwear upon inspection by airport security.

According to lawyer Ma. Antonette Mangrobang, BI acting intelligence chief, the suspects had just passed through the immigration counter and were on their way to the boarding gate when they were accosted by the members of the bureau’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit.

Mangrobang said that the two passengers refused to cooperate with investigators during questioning and that Tan was the only one who could speak English.

The two were brought to the immigration jail in Bicutan, Taguig City, pending deportation proceedings.