1 of 5 ‘Pinoy’ pilgrims who died in Saudi during Hajj, an Indonesian —BI

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Wednesday said one of the five Filipino Hajj pilgrims reported to have died in Saudi Arabia was actually an Indonesian.
The BI said the Indonesian identified as a certain Samsuddin, 68 years old, was holding a fake Philippine passport under the name of Murphy Rasam Sahiril, purportedly born in Alicia, Zamboanga del Norte.
The agency said Samsuddin was one of the 500 Indonesian pilgrims victimized by a syndicate allegedly operating within the Department of Foreign Affairs, national Commission on Muslim Filipinos and the National Statistics Office.
Consul General Imelda Panolong of the Philippine consulate office in Jeddah announced earlier this month that five Filipinos died in the Hajj pilgrimage in September.
Panolong said the five elderly pilgrims died before and during the Hajj.
In an earlier report, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said 12 Indonesians have been taken into custody on their possible involvement in the fake passport racket during the Hajj season. —ALG, GMA News

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