BI deports Afghan, Chinese for troublemaking at APEC

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has deported two foreigners, an Afghan and a Chinese, for trying to create trouble during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, an official said yesterday.

BI Associate Commissioner Gilbert Repizo refused to name the 29-year-old Afghan, whose name was reportedly not included in the original list of eight attendees from Afghanistan who went to the Philippines to attend an agricultural forum in Laguna.

The foreigner reportedly arrived in the country on Nov. 15. He was deported yesterday afternoon.

The forum’s organizers alerted the BI when the man said he had to meet with some people near the Mall of Asia on Nov. 18. It was the man’s first trip to the Philippines.

When the organizers asked the Afghan to present an identification card to prove he is an employee of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Agriculture, he could only show his passport, Repizo said.

BI agents and police officers located the Afghan at a hotel in Makati City and barred him from leaving his hotel room until he was deported.

When the BI’s intelligence division checked the Afghan’s Facebook page, probers said he reportedly  “adheres to the Kalifa Islamiah and posted on his profile the insignia of the Islamic caliphate state.”

His name was also not on the list of more than 1,400 suspected terrorists compiled by different international organizations.

The Afghan, who applied for voluntary deportation, was sent back to his country for violating a rule penalizing “subscription to terrorist organization or ideology or professing belief or overthrow of established government,” Repizo said.

Meanwhile, the BI prevented a 68-year-old Chinese man from leaving his hotel room after he allegedly threatened to block the APEC leaders’ convoy and hang himself in front of the venue of the summit.

Repizo said that on Nov. 17, they received a letter from the Chinese embassy asking for assistance to deal with a man who reportedly went to the embassy on Nov. 16 and “threatened to block APEC leaders convoys even at the price of being shot dead by (the) police.”

Repizo said that based on the information they received, the man was a “stalker” of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

No formal charges were filed against the Chinese man, who has been deported.