A young Chinese man who boarded an Air Canada flight in Hong Kong elaborately disguised as an elderly white male is seeking refugee status in Canada in what border officials are calling an “unbelievable case of concealment.” An internal intelligence alert from the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) shows before-and-after photos, and describes how the man boarded the flight in Hong Kong on Oct. 29 wearing a remarkable silicone mask to make him look like an elderly man.
The passenger was seen at the start of the flight as an “elderly Caucasian male who appeared to have young looking hands,” the CBSA bulletin said.
Later in the flight, however, “the subject attended the washroom and emerged an Asian looking male that appeared to be in his early 20s.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
The document says the man had a bag that contained a “disguise kit which consisted of a silicone type head and neck mask of an elderly Caucasian male, a brown leather cap, glasses and a thin brown cardigan.” The bulletin, which carried the headline “Unbelievable Case of Concealment,” said information was received by Air Canada Corporate security regarding a possible impostor.
It said the man later admitted to officials that he had boarded the flight with the mask on and had removed it several hours later.
It says they believe the man and another man performed a boarding pass swap. The government official said a US passport was also involved.
Hong Kong’s Immigration Department said in a statement it is investigating and declined to give specifics.
A Hong Kong official said that the impostor is a Chinese citizen who was transiting through Hong Kong. The official declined to be named because she was not authorized to release the information.
Chris McCluskey, a spokesman for Canadian Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, said a man is in detention and said the matter is before Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board. A spokeswoman for the Immigration and Refugee Board declined to comment.
Air Canada also confirmed a passenger on board flight AC018 had been met by border services officials in Vancouver.
John Babcock, a spokesman for Canada’s Transport Minister, declined to release details but said airlines have the responsibility to verify the identity of all passengers who appear to be 18 years of age or older.
“That means air carriers are supposed to look at a passenger’s entire face to determine if they appear to be over 18 and if so, compare their physical appearance with their travel documents,” Babcock said.
Air Canada spokeswoman Angela Mah said outbound passengers in Hong Kong go through several identity checks, including passport control.
However, the Hong Kong official said the Chinese man likely escaped detection because he used his own travel documents and a genuine boarding pass when clearing immigration checkpoints in the southern Chinese city, then swapped travel papers with a collaborator in the transit lounge just before boarding the flight to Vancouver.
Although former British colony Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, it still maintains border controls and Mainland Chinese residents still need visas to visit Hong Kong, though they are easy to obtain.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not