IMMIGRATION authorities arrested another two foreign Hajj pilgrims who left the country as “Filipinos” at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, bringing to 144 foreigners who have been intercepted while disguised as Filipinos.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said BI operatives started monitoring the return of the Muslim pilgrims last month when the Hajj pilgrimage ended and many of the foreigners intercepted returned in droves at the Naia in the last week of September and first week of October.
“So far, we have already intercepted 122 Indonesians and 22 Malaysians who returned from the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia after leaving the country. The latest is the apprehension of two Indonesians who came from Saudi Arabia,” the BI chief said.
He said the returning foreign pilgrims were discovered as a result of Oplan Janus, an inter-agency project that was initiated following the apprehension last August of 177 Indonesians who attempted to leave the Naia with genuine Philippine passports.
The government authorities uncovered the operations of a syndicate that sell Philippine passports to interested foreigners at a hefty price so they could join the pilgrimage using the Hajj quotas reserved by the Saudi government for Filipinos.
As for the intercepted Indonesians and Malaysians, Morente said the aliens were turned over to the custody of their respective embassies in Manila which facilitated the issuance of their travel documents and return to their homelands.
Meanwhile, BI officials revealed that one of the five Filipinos reported to have died during the Hajj was actually a 68-year-old Indonesian named Samsuddin, who assumed the Filipino name “Murphy Rasam Sahiril” and was purportedly born in Alicia, Zamboanga del Sur.
Investigators said he is one of the estimated 500 Indonesian pilgrims victimized by a syndicate allegedly operating within the Department of Foreign Affairs, National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, and possibly National Statistics Office.