The Bureau of Immigration (BI) says it foiled the attempt of eight potential victims of human trafficking to leave the Philippines. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Friday that it foiled the attempt of eight potential victims of human trafficking to leave the Philippines.
The agency said a supposed human trafficker with seven individuals tried to board a flight to Bangkok, Thailand, on March 1 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).
The victims initially told investigators that they were friends traveling for a vacation, but their documents showed some inconsistencies which led to a deeper examination.
Eventually, they admitted that they were going to Laos and work there as customer service representatives with a salary of around P40,000.
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They said that they would travel to Laos via Chang Mai, Thailand. where they would ride a boat to Vientiane.
The victims added that they received the job offers on Facebook and Telegram, and that the fake documents were given to them outside the airport before their flight.
The BI withheld all the names of the involved individuals.
“The escort traveled with them, but claimed to be traveling alone to Thailand when she went through immigration,” BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said.
READ: Human trafficking now a ‘global threat’ – Bureau of Immigration
“We were able to intercept her, and she was positively identified as an accomplice of the recruiter,” he added.
The trafficker was sent to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for further investigation and possible filing of charges.
On March 3, another woman suspected to be a trafficking victim were stopped by BI agents from traveling to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The woman said she was traveling as a tourist, but then later admitted that she accepted a job offer via Facebook to work as a household help with a P20,000 monthly salary.
She also disclosed that her recruiter contacted her through Whatsapp, and told her to pretend as a tourist and to get fake documents for her travel.