A young Asian 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.’
“Unbelievable case of concealment.”
A man boarded Flight AC018 in Hong Kong on October 29 wearing glasses, a brown cardigan sweater, a leather flat cap and a remarkable silicone mask to make him look like an elderly gentleman.
Canadian Border Services Agency officials believe the young Asian man managed to get on the plane with nothing more than an Aeroplan card and a boarding pass that he somehow obtained from a 55-year-old American passenger.
Flight attendants did notice that he had younger looking hands that didn’t match the face. Then he took off the mask in an airplane washroom. That didn’t go unnoticed. He was apprehended while arriving in Vancouver, and quickly claimed refugee status.
Neither Aeroplan cards nor boarding passes reflect dates of birth.
Former CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) agent Michel Juneau-Katsuya say the problem in security stems from failure of Air Canada to confirm the identity of the man boarding the plane. A boarding pass and photo ID are supposed to be used to confirm that the person boarding is the correct person.