A young Asian man boarded an Air Canada flight disguised as an elderly man in an apparent effort to sneak into Canada and apply for refugee status, The Globe and Mail reports
The Toronto newspaper says an intelligence alert from the Canadian Border Services Agency was headlined "unbelievable case of concealment."
The alert says the unidentified man apparently swapped boarding passes with a 55-year-old American citizen in Hong Kong then used a frequent flier card, which does not have a photograph or birth date, as ID to get on the plane.
The silicone mask he wore covered his entire head, neck and part of his chest, the paper says. The crew, however, did note that the "elderly man" had very young hands.
He removed the disguise in the airplane bathroom before landing.
Border control officials, which is investigating how he could have evaded security measures, pulled him aside after the plane landed. He quickly filed a refugee claim, and admitted to his ruse, the newspaper says, even putting the mask back on to demonstrate his ploy.
"The subject donned the 'disguise' for [border services officers] and they noted that he very much resembled an elderly Caucasian man, complete with mimicking the movements of an elderly person," the border service memo says, according to The Globe and Mail.
(Posted by Doug Stanglin)
