Passport counterfeiter nabbed in Manila

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Police and immigration agents arrested a suspected member of a syndicate that allegedly manufactures and sells fake Philippine passports to foreigners.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said the suspect, Arsenio Ortega, was arrested in Manila on Sunday during an entrapment operation conducted by joint operatives of the BI and Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.

Ortega was arrested after Afghan national Ahmady Mokhtar alias Faisal Abdullatif, helped authorities set up the entrapment operation at a coffee shop in Binondo, Manila. Mokhtar positively identified Ortega as the one who sold him a fake Philippine passport.

The arresting agents seized from Marcelo several fake documents, identification cards, mobile phones, a handheld radio, and a blue book where he kept a record of his shady business transactions.

Ortega was detained at CIDG headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City while Mokhtar was brought to the BI jail in Bicutan, Taguig.

David said the Afghan will undergo deportation proceedings for illegally entering the country by using the fake passport he bought from Ortega.

He described Mokhtar as an illegal entrant who is an excludable alien under the immigration act.

Early this month, immigration officers at Ninoy Aquino International Airport intercepted Mokhtar when he arrived from Macau. The Afghan was apprehended for using a fake Philippine passport under the assumed name Dennis Lee.

Mokhtar admitted during investigation his true name and nationality and identified a certain Marcelo as the one who gave him the passport that he used to travel from Manila to Malaysia on July 4.

He then attempted to travel from Manila to Macau on July 6 but was arrested upon arriving there and deported to Manila three days later.