Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers intercepted a 28-year-old man at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on 7 October for attempting to bypass immigration inspection using a passport bearing a counterfeit departure stamp, the BI said.
The passenger, who was scheduled to travel to Malaysia as a tourist, was referred for secondary inspection after a primary inspector flagged the suspicious stamp, according to the BI’s Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES).
“The passenger claimed that he had already completed his departure formalities and presented himself as a tourist bound for Malaysia,” I-PROBES Chief Leni Maminta said.
The passenger told investigators that a contact he met inside the terminal took his passport and boarding pass and returned them with the fake stamp.
He said the arrangement was made through Telegram, where he had been promised assistance with immigration procedures and travel documents.
He also disclosed that he had been recruited for a customer service representative job and interviewed by a foreign national before his scheduled departure.
He claimed he did not know the arrangement involved a counterfeit stamp and was not asked to pay for the return of his documents.
The BI Forensic Documents Laboratory confirmed that the stamp was counterfeit.
The passenger was turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for assistance and further investigation into his recruitment and travel arrangements, as well as possible violations by those involved.
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