BI holds Afghan, Chinese during APEC week

An Afghan and a Chinese were held during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) week due to security reasons.

A report by John Consulta on GMA 7's "24 Oras" on Tuesday revealed that the agents of the Bureau of Immigration's intelligence group apprehended 29-year-old Noori Gulam Mustafa in Makati City on November 17, when APEC economic leaders started to arrive in the Philippines.

The agents searched his bags for firearms and explosives but they found none.

According to the the BI, Mustafa declared that he was supposedly attending an agriculture seminar in Los Baños, Laguna during the APEC week.

Instead, Mustafa was at Mall of Asia Arena during that time. He failed to explain his presence in the events place, where all the APEC economic leaders gathered for a welcome reception on November 18.

His Facebook account also contained posts indicating support for Khilafah Islamiyyah, a group linked to the terrorist organization ISIS.

The BI also detained Chinese national Jingde Liu on November 18 as requested by the Chinese Embassy.

The authorities found a streamer in Chinese characters and a shirt condemning the one-child policy in China.

"Sumulat po sila sa atin. Nagsabi na may dumating na dalawang Chinese national na nagtangka na haharangin ang convoy ng Chinese President [Xi Jinping]. Kung kailangan magpabaril, magpapabaril. [We contained] ang sitwasyon para mabawasan ang takot na pinangambahan ng Chinese Embassy officials na guguluhin ang Chinese president," BI associate commissioner Atty. Gilberto Repizo explained.

Both Mustafa and Liu were freed and deported back to their respective home country.

Aside from these incidents, the APEC Security Task Group reiterated that there were no security threat during the event.

"Sa aming pagsusuri, wala pong lumabas talaga na seryosong banta noong idinaraos ang summit," Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Col. Restituto Padilla said.

Although the APEC has already been concluded, BI remains vigilant in monitoring the foreign nationals arriving in the Philippines. BI recently received a list of individuals blacklisted all over the world because of their activities related to terrorism.

According to Repizo, there are 1,400 people on the list.

"Iyan po ay galing sa Interpol, sa iba't ibang ahensya ng gobyerno sa iba't ibang bansa. One thousand four hundred foreign nationals who have suspicions of being linked to terrorism. Lahat po ng nasa listahan na iyan ay hindi po makakapasok sa Pilipinas," he said. —Trisha Macas/NB, GMA News