Japanese with NBI, press cards barred

A Japanese national was barred yesterday from entering the country for allegedly misrepresenting himself as an agent of the National Bureau of Investigation and as an "international correspondent" of a Manila-based tabloid.

Excluded upon arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport was Mori Teruhiko, 31, who flashed an NBI identification card and an ALARMA press card with the hope of getting a "VIP treatment" from immigration officers, sources said.

Witnesses said that Teruhiko alleged yelled at immigration officers for making him wait at the Bureau of Immigration counters. When brought to the immigration exclusion room for questioning, Teruhiko insisted that he was an NBI agent and an international correspondent of ALARMA.

NBI agents assigned at the NAIA confirmed the authenticity of the NBI card and the signature of NBI Director Reynaldo Wycoco. Teruhiko’s name appeared in the main computer of the NBI as a confidential agent.

The Japanese claimed he bought the NBI identification card for P40,000, and the ALARMA press card for the same amount. He did not say where he got the cards.

Meanwhile, Immigration Commissioner Andrea Domingo announced the arrest of a Korean fugitive, who is wanted in Tokyo for smuggling guns and ammunitions into Japan.

Domingo identified the Korean fugitive as Lee Jong Soo, 55, who was arrested by a joint team of NBI and Bureau of Immigration outside the ticketing office of the Philippine Airlines on Roxas Boulevard.

The immigration chief said that although Lee is a Korean using a Japanese name, he is known to be frequenting Japan where he holds a residency permit. – Rey Arquiza