BI WORRIED ABOUT EMERGING TREND OF FRAUDULENTLY-ACQUIRED FOREIGN PASSPORT

BUREAU of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Norman Tansingco expressed his concern on a recent trend of minor aliens obtaining fraudulently-acquired foreign passports.

Tansingco shared that officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have recently encountered three incidents of Vietnamese children presenting illegally-obtained German passports.

He said that this might be a case of trafficking of minors to illegally enter other countries.

Reports show that immigration officers at the NAIA terminal 1 intercepted two Vietnamese women who attempted to enter the country claiming to be German nationals.

The women arrived last July 22 aboard a Philippine Airlines flight from Saigon and were denied entry for presenting German passports, which turned out to be stolen.

The women, who were only identified as “Diem,” 15, and “Quynh,” 17, presented German passports whose owner had similar facial features.

He shared that their photo matching system only yielded 4% and 9% match for both travelers.

“They were look-alikes, but were detected as both German passports prompted a hit in the BI’s Interpol derogatory check system, indicating that their travel documents were reported as lost or stolen,” said Tansingco.

The women later admitted during questioning that the German passports are not theirs and that these were only given to them by fixers who assured them they could easily travel if they used it instead of their Vietnamese passports.

The duo then brought out their Vietnamese passports which contained their real names and the German passports were confiscated for turnover to the German embassy.

Both were denied entry to the country, boarded on the next available flight back to their port of origin, and blacklisted.

Meanwhile, another Vietnamese minor was intercepted at the NAIA Terminal 1 last July 23 before he could board a Korean Airlines flight to Incheon, South Korea en route to his final destination in Toronto, Canada.

The minor, identified as “Thang,” 17, also presented a fraudulently-acquired German passport when he presented himself for departure clearance.

When interviewed, he confessed his true identity and showed his Vietnamese passport that was wrapped in a foil and hidden inside his bag.

He admitted that he intended to use the German passport to gain illegal entry to Canada.

He was taken into custody and temporarily housed under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) while undergoing removal proceedings.

Investigations revealed that he was able to illegally acquire his passport from a website allegedly based in Europe that sells fraudulent travel documents.

“It was surprising to hear how easy it was for him to acquire the passport online,” said Tansingco.

“This seems to be another scheme illegal migrants use to be able to secure work abroad,” he added.

Tansingco said that they have alerted immigration officers at all ports about this emerging modus.