BI intercepts Bangladeshi man, Pakistani family for fake Canada docs

October 13, 2019

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has detained a Bangladeshi national who was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for using a fake Canadian passport.

BI port operations division chief Grifton Medina said 31-year-old Md Abu Saied was intercepted last Sept. 30 at the NAIA terminal 2 before he could board his connecting flight to Los Angeles, California.

Medina said Saied had just arrived as a transit passenger from Bangkok, Thailand when he was accosted and invited for questioning by immigration officers who doubted his nationality.

“During questioning he admitted paying US$4,000 to a syndicate in Bangladesh for the Canadian passport which he would use to enter the US illegally,” Medina said.

It was learned that the passenger later surrendered his Bangladeshi passport that was hidden in his luggage.

BI’s document forensic laboratory also confirmed that the bio-page of his Canadian passport is counterfeit.

Atty. Rommel Tacorda, the BI’s border control and intelligence unit (BCIU) chief, said Saied also presented a spurious driver’s license and social insurance ID purportedly issued in Ontario.

“He initially claimed that he lived for 12 years in the French-speaking city of Montreal but he could not even converse in French,” Tacorda said.

Meanwhile, BI officers also intercepted at NAIA terminal 1 a Pakistani family with fake Canadian Visas who attempted to fly to Canada last October 12.

The Pakistanis, identified as Mohsin Maqsood, Iqra Mohsin, and Rida Mohsin were intercepted Saturday afternoon by members of the Bureau’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit, upon referral by airline staff.

The trio, who attempted to board a Philippine Airlines flight to Canada, presented passports with dubious Canadian visas.

During interview, they admitted that they bought their fake Canadian visas from a Pakistani and an Indian national, to whom they paid almost half a million pesos for processing.

Verification with Canadian authorities revealed that the visas were indeed counterfeit.

All four aliens were brought to the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending their deportation. DMS