MANILA -- Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) intercepted a suspected member of a human trafficking syndicate and rescued five victims.
According to BI port operations division chief Grifton Medina, the suspect and the victims were stopped as they were about to board a flight to Tokyo, Japan at the NAIA Terminal 3 on October 11.
The passengers’ names were not divulged, as the law prohibits the public disclosure names of suspected human trafficking victims.
The BI also refused to reveal the identity of the suspect.
He noted the attempt to leave the country was foiled after immigration officers noticed inconsistencies in their answers to questions and doubted the authenticity of documents they presented.
It was learned that four of the passengers claimed they are employees of the suspect in his travel consultancy business while the other one alleged that he is a public transport operator and neighbor of the latter but could not show proof of his business.
Medina said the alleged courier and his companions were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for investigation and filing of appropriate charges.
On the other hand, Timotea Barizo, head of the BI’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU) noted that the passengers failed to prove their relationship to the suspect, which was the reason why they were stopped.
“Except for IDs purportedly showing they work at the travel agency, the four passengers were unable to provide proof of their employer-employee relationship to the suspect,” she said in a statement.
“This caused our officers to doubt their story, hence they were interviewed to check the authenticity of their statements,” Barizo added.
She said three of the victims are first-time travelers while the two others are former overseas workers who left and worked abroad without documentation.
“There were too many inconsistencies in their statements. In fact, two of the victims even had fake stamps in their passports,” Barizo added.
With this, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente reiterated his warning to aspiring overseas Filipino workers.
“Do not fall prey to illegal recruiters who will sweet-talk you into doing these schemes,” he added. (PNA)
