A man from the United Arab Emirates whose name is on a US list of possible terror suspects was deported from Taiwan after arriving at Kaohsiung International Airport on a flight from Shanghai, officials said yesterday.
The man, identified as Baghlaf Saeed Ahmed, arrived in Greater Kaohsiung on Wednesday, and immigration officials found his name on a US watch list, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said.
Ahmed was then escorted to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport for a late-night flight to Dubai because there are no flights to Dubai from Kaohsiung, said Chien Chuan-kang (錢傳綱), head of the Aviation Police Bureau’s Kaohsiung branch.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Ahmed said he wanted to visit Taiwan on business, but the authorities decided on immediate deportation out of concern for border security, the agency said, adding that it had notified international counterterrorist organizations of his arrival.
The agency said an accord the government signed in 2011 on the mutual exchange of terrorist information gave Taiwan access to the US databases on terror suspects.
The accord on tightening immigration controls against felons and terrorists was signed in December 2011 as part of Taiwan’s efforts to gain entry to the US’ visa-waiver program.
While the agency identified the US database it uses as the Remote Query International (RQI) database, which it said had more than 6,000 items of information, it is not clear if it is referring to the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, a database on known or suspected terrorists that is maintained by the US National Counterterrorism Center, or the Terrorist Screening Database, which is maintained by the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center.
However, the NIA said that the government has forwarded information to the US Terrorist Screening Center via the American Institute in Taiwan three times since the 2011 accord was signed.
It said Taiwan uses the list provided by the “RQI database” with the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) established by the US Customs and Border Protection since last year for more comprehensive screening.
APIS provides pre-arrival and departure manifest data on all passengers and crew members.
All travelers coming to, leaving or transiting through Taiwan’s airports or ports are checked against the APIS system, the agency said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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