By Ma. Cristina Arayata/PNA
MANILA — Passengers attempting to leave the Philippines using fake passports are warned against the criminal offense they will face.
Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) Port Operations Division chief Grifton Medina told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Wednesday that just last week, two passengers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) were apprehended for using fake passports.
The two were identified as Han Yujia, a Chinese national, and Juan Arturo Carbajo, a Colombian.
Authorities found that Han used a fraudulent Guatemalan passport and hid his Chinese passport in his bag, while Carbajo presented a fake Argentinean passport he apparently bought from a syndicate in Peru.
Medina earlier told the PNA that the BI uses a state-of-the-art system to check stolen passports and counterfeit documents.
“Our (Immigration officers) are trained and undergo continuous training to spot fake documents,” he said, adding that there is a laboratory at the airport where officers can examine further possible fake documents.
Immigration officers undergo a quarterly training on documents analysis, as this skill is really essential to them, he remarked.
The two passengers, meanwhile, are currently detained for violating the Immigration law, he said.
