Three nabbed, 30 women rescued in Cebu City bar raid

Three women accused of trafficking girls and women for sex were arrested in a Cebu City bar by operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) last Thursday evening.

The bar owner, a German national, remains at large.

At least 30 women, including minors, were rescued from the Red Lips Bar in Manros Plaza along Gen. Maxilom Avenue.

Charges of qualified trafficking will be filed with the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office.

The offense is non-bailable.

The special law’s confidentiality provisions prohibit the identification of both the victims and the accused in the media.

NBI-7 Regional Director Edward Villarta said the bar raid was done in cooperation with the International Justice Mission (IJM), a non-government organization that is campaigning against human trafficking.

As of yesterday afternoon, Villarta said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) was still processing the affidavits of the female victims.

At least five were identified as minors.

The three women who were detained at the NBI-7 stockage, refused to be interviewed.

An undercover agent was used in the operation, but details weren’t given by the NBI.

Human trafficking covers the “recruitment, transportation, transfer or harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the victim’s consent or knowledge” by threats, coercion, abduction and deception.