Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have rescued two suspected human trafficking victims who were stopped from leaving the country.
In a report to Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the BI’s immigration protection and border enforcement section (I-PROBES) said the two passengers, both male, were intercepted last March 14 at the NAIA terminal 3 before they could board their Cebu Pacific flight to Thailand.
The passengers reportedly admitted that upon reaching Bangkok they were supposed to be fetched and escorted to Laos where they were hired to work as call center agents for a company believed to be involved in the notorious crypto investment scam.
“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 reaction to the incident.
According to the I-PROBES, the duo initially claimed they are tourists who will be vacationing for five days in Thailand and that are locally 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.
They added that their documents were only sent to them via courier to the hotel where they stayed prior to their flight.
They were allegedly promised a monthly salary of US$400 while undergoing on-the-job training and US$1,000 when they become regular workers.
The passengers were later turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for assistance and further investigation.
