BY OSIAS OSORIO
IMMIGRATION agents at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 arrested on Sunday two Chinese passengers bound to Thailand for using spurious immigration documents.
Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado identified the two as Wang Dingku, 31 and Su Zhengun, 25, who were intercepted at the departure area before they could board a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight for Bangkok, Thailand.
The duo are now detained at the BI holding facility in Camp Bagong Diwa Taguig City for deportation proceedings.
According to Viado, the Chinese passengers were denied departure and instead arrested after they were found to have entered the country with counterfeit visas.
“We commend the immigration officers involved for their vigilance in detecting the fraudulent travel documents that these aliens used to circumvent our immigration laws and enter our country illegally,” Viado said.
The passengers presented themselves for departure formalities at the immigration counter when the BI officers who processed them noticed irregularities in the visas impressed on their passports.
The visas were then referred for examination to the BI’s forensic documents laboratory which later certified that these were counterfeit.
This prompted the BI supervisors on duty to arrest the passengers and endorse them to the bureau’s legal division for filing of deportation charges.
Ferdinand Tendenilla, BI border control and intelligence unit (BCIU) acting chief, said Wang and Su already underwent preliminary investigation by BI prosecutors at the bureau’s main office last Monday.
Charges of violating the Philippine immigration law will be filed against the two Chinese before the BI Board of Commissioners which will issue the order for their summary deportation.
