Three Indians arrested for bogus Philippines visas

Philippines, 2nd November: The Philippines Bureau of Immigration has arrested three Indians for trying to enter the nation through bogus visas nearly two weeks ago.

As per the information provided by the BI (Bureau of Immigration) on 27th October, among the Indians being detained in Camp Bagong Diwa (Taguig City) immigration jail include Baldev Singh, Davinder Singh and Amritpal Singh Sidhu.

The immigration officials found these Indians in Zamboanga City trying to sneak into the country using fake visas on October 16, revealed Officer-in-charge of BI, Ronaldo Ledesma.

All the three Indian nationals with fake visas caught from a ship from Sabah to Malaysia stated themselves to be the victims of a gang of human traffickers, stated Ledesma. The Indians claimed the human trafficking syndicate that had arranged their trip to Philippines had eventually promised of landing them in the US.   

The Indians caught with fake visas stated that they had no idea of the fact that their visas were fake, the intelligence chief of BI, Lawyer Faizal Hussin stated. The Indians further confessed that all the three had paid around half a million pesos to the syndicate for their trip via Southeast Asia to the US.

Mr. Hussin added that the Indians were asked to stay for four days in Malaysia and wait there for receiving further instructions. And later, they were asked to take a vessel for reaching the Philippines without any knowledge that the visa stamps on their passports were not genuine.

The Indians are likely to undergo deportation process and are to get blacklisted from visiting the Philippines, revealed Ledesma.

Meanwhile, a person suspected to be a human trafficker was arrested by BI agents last Friday while taking six OFWs (undocumented Filipino workers) in Clark, Pampanga. The arrested suspected syndicate arrested by immigration agents was identified as Marsha Mendoza from Angeles City.

The manes of the six OFWs were not revealed by Ledesma. He added that the six domestic helpers were caught at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport as they were to board a flight to Hong Kong.

When asked, the six OFWs said they were would-be workers abroad who had been promised employment of household helpers to Lebanon.