Hong Kong Man Disguises Himself As Old Man on Air Canada Flight

by Amy Judd | November 5, 2010 at 08:48 am

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A Young Hong Kong Man Boarded Air Canada Flight AC018 Disguised As An Old Caucasian Man and Then Dropped His Disguise Mid-Flight

Canadian authorities are now investigating the incident that occurred on October 29 after the man landed in Vancouver and then proceeded to make a claim for refugee protection.

CNN has photos of the man before and after he donned the disguise, and authorities are calling it 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."

He claimed to only have one bag with him but flight crew found two additional bags that belonged to him; one with his personal clothing items and the other containing a disguise kit that contained a 'silicone type head and neck mask of an elderly Caucasian male, with a brown leather cap, glasses and a thin brown cardigan.'

"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."

Officials have not said how he boarded the plane but the alert states that he did board the plane with a 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.