Man in Disguise Boards International Flight
November 5th, 2010What do you make of this one?
Definitely click through to see the picture.
Via: CNN:
Canadian authorities are investigating an “unbelievable” incident in which a passenger boarded an Air Canada flight disguised as an elderly man, according to a confidential alert obtained by CNN.
The incident occurred on October 29 on Air Canada flight AC018 to Vancouver originating in Hong Kong. An intelligence alert from the Canada Border Services Agency describes the incident as an “unbelievable case of concealment.”
“Information was received from Air Canada Corporate Security regarding a possible imposter on a flight originating from Hong Kong,” the alert says. “The passenger in question was observed at the beginning of the flight to be an elderly Caucasian male who appeared to have young looking hands. During the flight the subject attended the washroom and emerged an Asian looking male that appeared to be in his early 20s.”
After landing in Canada, Border Services Officers (BSOs) escorted the man off the plane where he “proceeded to make a claim for refugee protection,” the alert says.
“The subject initially claimed to be in possession of one bag; however, flight crew approached the BSOs with two additional pieces of luggage which were believed to belong to the subject. One bag contained the subject’s personal clothing items while the second contained a pair of gloves. The third 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 man put on the disguise for the officers who “noted he very much resembled an elderly Caucasian man, complete with mimicking the movements of an elderly person. The subject admitted at this time that he had boarded the flight with the mask on and had removed it several hours later,” according to the alert.
“We can confirm that officials from the CBSA met a passenger arriving off AC018 Hong Kong to Vancouver on October 29 and the matter is still under investigation,” said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick, who noted that “there are multiple identity checks before departure at the Hong Kong international airport, including Chinese government-run Hong Kong passport control, which Hong Kong originating passengers must undergo.”
Hong Kong officials said they are aware of the incident and would call back with more information later.
Jennifer Bourque, regional communications officer for the CBSA, confirmed that “we intercepted an individual, on October 29, attempting to enter Canada under false pretenses on-board an Air Canada flight.”
“CBSA can confirm that the foreign national is currently in CBSA detention,” she said. “The individual will present before an IRB hearing. The officials of the CBSA will not disclose further information on this file.”
Because of Privacy Act regulations, she said, she cannot provide details about specific cases.
“However, I can tell you that CBSA officers examine all passengers arriving on international flights at Vancouver International Airport,” she said. “CBSA works closely with air carriers and local, national and international law enforcement partners, to ensure the safety of our borders and our communities. Getting the right information at the right time is a key element in keeping Canada’s border closed to safety and security threats.”
The agency would not discuss when or why the man put on the disguise or details about how he boarded the plane. But the alert indicated that the suspect boarded the plane with a board pass belonging to another passenger.
“It is believed that the subject and the actual United States Citizen passenger (whose date of birth is 1955) performed a boarding pass swap, with the subject using an Aeroplan card as identification to board the flight,” the alert said.
Aeroplan is a credit card where card holders can earn frequent flyer miles.
Testing probably. ??
You can see a third picture of the actual fake skin inside the intelligence alert CNN posted.
I wonder why he didn’t wait until after the flight to change skin.
I wonder why he didn’t wait until after the flight to change skin.
My wife and I were looking at each other, slackjawed over this question.
The only guess that I could come up with, and this is 100% wild ass speculation, is that he had a way out of the arrivals/secure zone at the destination. Maybe airport employee credentials and a uniform, etc. Otherwise, how could he possibly think he’d clear immigration if he wasn’t on the manifest??? Of course, when old white guy wouldn’t have shown up, that would have set off a different set of red flags, as the manifest would show that old white guy was on the plane, but didn’t leave the arrivals area.
The disguise reminds me of the life-like latex masks used in a robbery several months back, and which are available for sale online.
It is possible that a flawed bid for freedom been turned into a bonus opportunity to evoke reactions like: ‘we clearly need to tighten up airline security’.
…however I’m still too busy choking on my lunch to make make useful judgements.
How were his ‘young hands’ noticed if he had ‘gloves’? And why remove a disguise in an aircrafy toilet that typically has a bunch of people waiting to get in after you? Unless you are determined to be caught.
And what would he have done if he hadn’t been caught, upon reaching passport control?
“It is believed that the subject and the actual United States Citizen passenger (whose date of birth is 1955) performed a boarding pass swap, with the subject using an Aeroplan card as identification to board the flight,” the alert said.’
yeah, but what about a passport? It has been awhile but when I flew int’l you had to present at least a passport and a ticket to get your boarding pass or you didn’t get into the departure area…so I guess this guy and the actual US citizen both had tickets and passports, got boarding passes, got into the boarding area and the real guy bolted?!? That guy should be in some trouble, you would think…maybe it is some kind of coyote deal gone wrong cuz this guy is a dumb-ass…
The guy in this video is wearing an SPFX mask that looks like an old man. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Kts7IYctc&feature=related
Compare the forhead of the mask in the video with the one that got arrested. It looks similar to me.
I looked at some other SPFX mask video and some also have gloves that fit there mask.
It does nothing to help explain this news, but i though it was interesting.