Elderly White Man Boards Flight; Young Asian Man Leaves - It's The Same Guy!
Nov. 5 2010, Published 9:15 a.m. ET
Halloween may have been last weekend, but the best disguise came after an unbelievable concealment plot was discovered involving an imposter flying from Hong Kong to Canada, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
It happened on an October 29, flight when a seemingly elderly white man in a flat cap boarded the plane in brown cardigan and thin-rimmed glasses in Hong Kong only to depart in Canada as a young Asian man!
The Mission Impossible style prank was only foiled after as alert airline staff got suspicious when he was boarding the flight because of his youthful looking hands.
And when the old man didn't disembark the flight at Canada's Vancouver airport, police swooped and discovered the astonishing plot.
In what Canadian authorities are describing as an 'unbelievable case of concealment', it transpires that the young man had boarded the plane in elaborate disguise with a silicone face and neck mask - and switched identities in the plane toilet in mid-air.
An intelligence alert released by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) stated: “Information was received from Air Canada Corporate Security regarding a possible imposter on a flight originating from Hong Kong.
“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.”
On landing, the passenger was escorted off the plane by Border Services Officers, who he then asked for refugee status. He is not being named due to Canadian privacy laws and he initially denied any wrong-doing claiming he only had one bag.
But when the authorities confronted him with two more bags, one of which contained the peeled-off silicone face and neck mask, he confessed his fake identity plan.
The alert stated: “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.'
“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.”
Aeroplan is a credit card where card holders can earn frequent flyer miles.
The authorities then requested the passenger put the disguise back on so they could confirm their suspicions, and noted that he even mimicked the movements of an elderly person for them.
Jennifer Bourque, regional communications officer for the CBSA, confirmed the body had 'intercepted an individual, on October 29, attempting to enter Canada under false pretenses on-board an Air Canada flight.
The official added: “CBSA can confirm that the foreign national is currently in CBSA detention.”
Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said: “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.”
Ironically, the type of mask, covering the face and neck, is similar to the ones used by Tom Cruise's character Ethan Hunt in the film Mission: Impossible II.
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