The Canada Border Services Agency calls it an “unbelievable case of concealment.”

The federal border services agency is investigating after a passenger allegedly boarded an Air Canada flight from Hong Kong to Canada disguised as an elderly man, according to a report.

CNN reported late Thursday night that the passenger in disguise boarded Air Canada flight AC018, travelling from Hong Kong to Vancouver, on Oct. 29.

The news agency obtained a copy of an intelligence alert from Canada Border Services Agency describing the event.

At the beginning of the flight, the passenger was observed as “an elderly Caucasian male who appeared to have young-looking hands,” the alert says. “During the flight the subject attended the washroom and emerged an Asian male that appeared to be in his early 20s.”

The alert, dated Nov. 1, included photos of the man both wearing the disguise and not wearing the disguise. The disguise appears to be a latex mask with little hair and wrinkled skin that has a bib to cover the neck. The eyes of the mask are squinted. The disguise also included a brown poorboy hat, a pair of wire-rimmed glasses and a brown cardigan.

According to the alert, the man wearing the disguise swapped boarding passes with the actual passenger, a U.S. citizen who was born in 1955. It is believed the man used an Aeroplan card as ID to board the flight, the alert says.

Border services officers escorted the man off the plane after in Vancouver and he “proceeded to make a claim for refugee protection,” the alert says.

Air Canada and CBSA did not immediately return e-mails or calls for comment late Thursday night, but spokespeople for both the airline and the federal agency told CNN they were aware of the incident.

“We intercepted an individual, on Oct. 29, attempting to enter Canada under false pretenses on-board an Air Canada flight,” CBSA spokeswoman Jennifer Bourque told CNN. “CBSA can confirm that the foreign national is currently in CBSA detention. The individual will present before an IRB hearing. The officials of the CBSA will not disclose further information on this file.”

(Source: Toronto Sun)