A 21-year-old woman suspected to be a victim of a mail-order bride scheme was intercepted by immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
In a report, officers from the Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES) said the passenger was intercepted last March 10 at the NAIA Terminal 3 before she could board a Cebu Pacific flight bound for Guangzhou, China.
During the interview, the passenger claimed she was traveling to China to pursue language studies and said she was enrolled at a public higher vocational engineering college in Guangdong province. However, officers noted numerous inconsistencies between her statements and the documents she presented.
The victim later admitted that no actual enrollment had taken place and that she was bound for a marriage arranged by an agent with an unidentified individual. She also admitted that she would receive P50,000 after the marriage.
The woman was turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and the filing of appropriate cases.
