2 possible trafficking victims intercepted at Naia

FILE PHOTO: Departing passengers line up at the immigration counters of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) prior to boarding their respective flights in this 2017 file photo. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines – Two potential trafficking victims who were offered work at Laos People’s Democratic Republic (Laos PDR) as call center agents were intercepted by immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3.

In a statement, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said that the two would-be male victims were intercepted at Naia Terminal 3 on March 14, before the pair could board their flight to Thailand.

The BI said that its immigration protection and border enforcement section reported to immigration commissioner Norman Tansingco that the pair initially claimed they are tourists who will be flying to Thailand for a vacation.

They also told migration officers they are employed in a telecommunications company, which turned out to be false.

“They then confessed that both of them are jobless and that all the employment documents they presented are fake as these were only given to them by their Chinese recruiter,” BI’s statement said.

The two men also admitted that upon reaching Bangkok, they were supposed to be escorted to Laos PDR where they were hired to work as customer service representatives for a company “believed to be involved in (a) notorious crypto investment scam” with a promised salary of US$400 to US$1,000.

“Thanks to the vigilance of our officers at the airport, we again saved two of our countrymen from these syndicates that operate scams which harmed and ruined the lives of many people who were virtually treated as slaves by their employers,” Tansingco said in a statement.

The pair was later turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for assistance and further investigation, the bureau added.

According to the US Department of State’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, the Philippine government identified 1,277 human trafficking victims last year, including 740 cases ofsex trafficking.