Police and immigration agents arrested another suspected foreign terrorist who tried to sneak into the country by using a tampered Saudi Arabian passport.
Immigration Commissioner Rufus Rodriguez said Naef Menaor Govin Famez, an Iraqi, was intercepted last March 3 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) by combined operatives of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and PNP Directorate for Intelligence shortly after he arrived aboard a Cathay Pacific Airways flight from Hongkong.
Rodriguez said Famez was caught in possession of a stolen and tampered Saudi Arabian passport belonging to a certain Abdullah Abdulaziz Al-Ali who was confirmed to be in Riyadh.
The Iraqi was the third suspected foreign terrorist arrested in joint operations by the PNP and BI since late last year for alleged involvement in clandestine operations with secessionist rebels in the South.
Last December, authorities arrested Abdesselem Boulanovar, an Algerian who holds a French passport, and Pandu Yudhawinata, holder of an Indonesian passport but believed to be from the Middle East.
Rodriguez said intelligence information had indicated that Famez visited the Philippines to establish contact with Yudhawinata who is believed to be among the foreigners supplying arms and training Muslim rebels in Mindanao. He