Foreigners Using Fake PH Passports Stopped
Foreigners Using Fake PH Passports – About 200 foreigners were stopped at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) who were bound for Saudi Arabia because of questionable documents.
In a report by Inqiurer, the foreigners include 177 Indonesians and at least 10 Malaysians were allegedly using fake Philippine passports.
According to a source from the Bureau of Immigration, he said that the foreigners were stopped by the anti-human trafficking task force at around 3:30am, on Friday, August 19, before having a Philippine Airlines Flight bound for Saudi Arabia.
Also, one thing that was noticed by Inquirer is that all the foreigners’ baggage was marked “Sheik Omar Abdulaziz”, which is could be the organizer of the group.
Now, the said foreigners have been held to be brought to the Immigration main office for further investigation.
According to a report by GMA News, Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Jaime Morente said that the foreigners cannot speak any Philippine dialect like Tagalog, Cebuano, or Marano, but could only converse in English.
The report said that these Indonesians will be deported soon by the BI.
According to an investigation the Indonesians were given fake Philippine passports for them to join the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia which will run from September 9 to 14.
The agency said that these Indonesians disguised as Filipinos in order to join the Hajj in order to use the quota allocated for Filipinos as the slots for Indonesians were already not available.
It is also stated in the report that there are two Filipino escorts who were the provided the fake Philippine passports to the foreigners for $6,000 to $10,000 each.
The Hajj is an annual Islamic Pilgrimage in Mecca and also a mandatory religious duty for Muslims.
This must be carried by any Muslim at least once in their lifetime by all adult ones who are physically and financially capable of taking the pilgrimage and can also support their family when they leave.
This is the largest annual gathering of people in the world.