Curious case of Benjamin Button in real life

[Denny Yen 0]

'Unbelievable concealment': The plane passenger boarded with a silicone face and neck mask that gave him the appearance of an old man. He agreed to put the disguise on to be photographed after being picked up on arrival in Canada.

 

Police arrest passenger who boarded plane in Hong Kong as an old man in flat cap and arrived in Canada a young Asian refugee

 

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 1:20 PM on 5th November 2010

 

It reads like a plotline from the hi-tech Mission: Impossible spy films.

 

Elderly white man in flat cap, brown cardigan and thin-rimmed specs boards plane in Hong Kong and alights in Canada as a young Asian man.

 

However, the suspicions of eagle-eyed staff as he was boarding were aroused by his strangely youthful hands.

 

And when the old man didn't disembark the flight at Canada's Vancouver airport, police swooped and discovered an 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.

 

The passenger, who isn't being named due to privacy laws in Canada, initially denied the incident, claiming he had only the one bag he was carrying.

 

But when the authorities confronted him with two more bags, one of which contained the peeled-off silicone face and neck mask, he capitulated.

 

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.'

 

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.

 

'CBSA can confirm that the foreign national is currently in CBSA detention.'

 

The agency refused to reveal several details about the man's disguise but did disclose he had embarked with a boarding 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,' stated the alert.

 

Aeroplan is a credit card where card holders can earn frequent flyer miles.

 

'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.

 

Mr Fitzpatrick pointed out that there are multiple identity checks that occur before passengers leave Hong Kong international airport, including Chinese government-run Hong Kong passport control.

 

Hong Kong officials are aware of the incident.

 

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.

 

Characters in the hi-tech secret agent film repeatedly conceal and change their identities by donning and removing similar latex masks.

 

At one point, someone even uses a mask to pose as Ethan Hunt on an aeroplane.

[Naim 6]

Truly incredible!

 

===

 

 

Masked marvel: Traveller's disguise impresses experts

By Douglas Quan, Postmedia News November 6, 2010 5:59 AM

 

Sure, the skin tones were a bit uneven, and there might have been a tad too much makeup, but special-effects artists on Friday generally gave high marks to the craftsmanship of a mask worn by a young Asian man who got on an international flight disguised as an elderly Caucasian.

 

"It's pretty realistic. It's really well done," said Dorota Buczel, a special-effects makeup artist and instructor in Toronto.

 

Buczel said she was impressed with the mask's level of detail — the asymmetrical face, broken capillaries, deep-set wrinkles, age spots and hint of grey hair. Her only complaint was that the purplish forehead didn't quite match the chin's fleshier tones.

 

When Stan Edmonds, head of makeup design at the Vancouver Film School, asked his students Friday morning what they thought, some said the mask was a bit "caricaturish," but they, too, generally responded positively, he said.

 

With secret-spy deftness, the unidentified man apparently managed to get past airport security and onto an Air Canada flight Oct. 29 from Hong Kong to Vancouver. He has since applied for refugee status in Canada, in a story that has made headlines around the world.

 

Edmonds said he's astounded the man was able to make it through the airport's security gates.

 

Special lighting and camera angles can make a disguise look real on the screen, but when you're standing next to the person in the mask — even if they've been worked on by Hollywood's best — "you would be able to tell," he said.

 

It goes to show how society is generally more dismissive of the elderly, Edmonds said.

 

Experts were divided about how the mask was likely acquired.

 

Buczel said the refugee claimant could not have just picked up the mask at a regular costume shop; he would have had to get it custom-made.

 

It probably took at least two days to complete, she said. The different steps would've included making a cast of his face, sculpting the wrinkles, making a mould, pouring in the silicone, waiting for it to harden, pulling out the prosthetic and adding the makeup.

 

Buczel said she would have charged $1,500 to $2,000 for such a job.

 

Edmonds was skeptical about the mask being custom-made. Special effects makeup artists are very rare in Asia, he said.

 

He said a likelier scenario is that the man bought the mask online. Silicone, form-fitting masks can be purchased online for $600 to $1,500 and they are very realistic, he said.

 

A quick online search turned up one website selling very similar masks to that used by the Asian traveller. They sell for between $689 and $1,259 — depending on whether or not they come with hair.

 

Both experts said it's not uncommon for people in their industry to be approached by strangers to create disguises for them. Buczel said she's been approached at least three times this year.

 

She declined to elaborate on the nature of the requests but said she turned down each one because she didn't want to get involved in potential illegal activity.

 

Edmonds, however, said he knows one artist who accepted a request from a father asking to transform his 17-year-old son into a man in his 40s so they could go drinking together at a bar.

 

Twitter.com/dougquan

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