Bureau of Immigration bars disguised foreign ‘terrorist’

A heavily disguised suspected foreign terrorist, wearing a fake mustache, long dyed hair, sideburns, and dark glasses, attempted but failed to sneak into the country Wednesday evening on a fake Netherlands passport.

Immigration authorities at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport led by senior intelligence officers Cresencio Ablan and Rudy David collared Reza Janmalekidehchani, an Iranian national, while queuing for admission as a Dutch national, and summarily threw him out of the country on the first available flight of Malaysian Airlines for Kuala Lumpur.

Janmalekidechani, 32, who arrived on board a Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur where he reportedly bought his fake Netherlands passport, was spotted by BI agents while he was adjusting his mustache which he had accidentally torn off when he put on his dark glasses.

The BI agents found an Iranian passport hidden in a small hand-carried luggage of Janmalekidechani, who later admitted that he is an Iranian national and that his purpose in coming to Manila was "to see the beautiful resorts in your country."

"At the outset, we believed that the Iranian, who took pains in heavily disguising himself, had a dubious purpose in coming to Manila, thus, the reason why we immediately threw him out of the country," Ablan said.

The strict monitoring of departing and arriving foreigners from radical Muslim states ordered by Immigration Commissioner Rufus Rodriguez even during the holidays is paying off, according to immigration authorities at the NAIA.

Only last Tuesday, immigration authorities also foiled an attempt of two Middle East nationals to enter the country on fake Turkish passports. They were identified as Kurt Halil, 22, and Halil Necmettin, 22, who arrived at the NAIA on board a Gulf Air flight from Bahrain.

The exclusion of Halil and Necmettin, whose true nationalities were not established, was preceded by the arrest of an Iranian national, who was tagged by immigration authorities as a "sleeper agent."

The "spy," whose identity has been withheld for the time being, was arrested while attempting to depart from the NAIA using a fake Italian passport. His supposed "replacement," another Middle East national, was summarily excluded for trying to pass himself off as a Belgian national. – Rey Arquiza