Three people have been arrested in the Philippines for allegedly offering jobs in a non-existent nation in return for cash. The mythical country is described as the Dominion of Melchizedek.
Philippine immigration agents arrested "chief justice" Stuart Ronald Mason-Parker, a Briton; Chew Chin Yee, a Malaysian said to be Melchizedek's public works minister; and Dennis Oakley, an Australian and "minister of the navy and coast guard". The three men are allegedly leaders of a syndicate that has victimised hundreds of Bangladeshis and Chinese, each charged 43,500 dollars (£2,170) in "processing fees" for "high-paying" jobs in the fictitious country said to be in the South Pacific.
Chew was detained along with three Bangladeshis who came to the Philippines as tourists applying for work in the fictitious country, an immigration official said. Immigration agents said documents taken from the three men included application forms for dominion passports and citizenship. Melchizedek appears in the Old Testament as a figure who offers hospitality to Abraham.