(File photo)
MANILA – The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Wednesday stressed that airport immigration areas are strictly off-limits to unauthorized personnel.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco issued the warning after immigration officers intercepted three suspected human trafficking victims bound for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on Dec. 22.
An airport employee escorted the three to the immigration counters.
“Immigration supervisors promptly intervened, signaling that such actions were unauthorized and against protocol,” Tansingco said.
In an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel, BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said they have forwarded the case to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and filing of appropriate charges.
"We don’t have the details about the employee yet but we have forwarded the case to the IACAT. Since the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is part of the IACAT, the NBI will investigate this matter to know who this individual is, why is he escorting trafficking victims, whether this already happened before and if there is a business in it,” she added.
Sandoval said the employee is likely a part of a human trafficking syndicate.
“It could be. Because recruiting an individual to work abroad is a big process. You would have to have connections here and abroad. This is why we want incidents like this to be thoroughly investigated. We’re very thankful that airport authorities have expressed their intent to look into this matter,” she added.
Tansingco said the passengers initially posed as vacationing friends from General Santos City.
BI officers subjected the three to a secondary inspection and it was revealed that they did not know each other's names and lacked return tickets to General Santos.
The victims are transiting in Thailand going to UAE and confessed to being recruited as household service workers in Dubai through Facebook, with no knowledge of their transit arrangements to the host country. (PNA)
