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Manila, Philippines -- Two Bulgarian nationals carrying tampered passports were arrested in Manila while about to board a connecting flight to Frankfurt, the Bureau of Immigration said Monday.
Bulgarians Simeon Aleksandrov and Valerie Aleksandrov were arrested minutes after they arrived from Brunei, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said.
They were sent back to Brunei where they were booked for return trip to Sofia, Bulgaria and banned from reentering the Philippines, Libanan said.
Immigration officials suspected that the couple intended to enter Germany and work there illegally.
It was not the first time Bulgarians tried to enter the Philippines using fake travel documents, Libanan said.
Last January, immigration officers at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Pampanga intercepted four Bulgarians as they tried to slip into the country with tampered passports.
The Bulgarians, who arrived from Malaysia, were arrested sent back to Kuala Lumpur.
Libanan has also banned the four Bulgarians from entering the country by placing them on the immigration blacklist.
