BI nabs 2 Africans with fake Canadian visa

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) recently intercepted two Africans at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for using fake Canadian visas.

 Cameroonian Etienne Makang Nformem and Sudanese Abdelmotalab Idris Himat Mohamed were arrested in separate incidents at the NAIA Terminal 1 by members of the BI travel control and enforcement unit.

 BI port operations division chief Grifton Medina said Nformem was nabbed shortly after he arrived at the airport on a Gulf Air flight from Bahrain on Feb. 9.

 The Cameroonian said he would visit his cousin here and would be flying to Toronto after three days. But airport authorities found that his Canadian visa is fake.

Mohamed was apprehended while he was about to depart for Toronto on a Philippine Airlines flight on Feb. 13.

 His Canadian visa was found to be counterfeit after it was examined by personnel of the BI’s anti-fraud division. 

Medina said the two Africans are being held at the BI main office in Intramuros, Manila pending prosecution for violating the country’s immigration law.

The BI official said the arrest of the foreigners was a result of an intensified campaign against international crime groups using Manila as a jump-off point in smuggling illegal aliens to Canada.

“We are warning these syndicates to stop their nefarious activities because our men at the airports are experts in detecting fraudulent visas and passports,” Medina.