Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) intercepted seven suspected human trafficking victims bound for Iraq, who tried to leave the country in the guise of being tourists.
In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the passengers were intercepted at the NAIA 1 terminal last January 16 before they could board a Scoot Airways flight to Singapore.
Tansingco said the passengers, all women, later admitted during questioning that their final destination is Erbil, Iraq where they were hired to work as janitresses with a month pay of US$1,000.
The government has imposed a long standing ban on the deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to Iraq which has continued to be plagued by violence.
Tansingco said the passengers were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and filing of charges against their recruiters.
Their names were not divulged as the law prohibits the public disclosure of human trafficking victims.
According to the BI’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) which interviewed the victims, the latter initially claimed that their clandestine trip to Iraq was arranged by a travel agency based in Manila.
7 trafficking victims bound to Iraq intercepted at NAIA
They said that upon arrival in Singapore they were supposed to board their connecting flights to Dubai or Qatar en route to their final destination in Iraq.
The victims reportedly bared that some 30 Filipinos were already recruited by the syndicate to work in Iraq for the same employer.
Meanwhile, Bureau of Immigration (BI) personnel are set to undergo a law enforcement course sponsored by the United States government.
Agents of the BI’s Warden Facility (BIWF) and Fugitive Search Unit (BI-FSU) are scheduled to attend a control tactics familiarization course to be facilitated by the United States Marshals Service.
The program focuses on law enforcement self-protection and arrest procedures.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco expressed his appreciation to the US government for the partnership, and hopes to have more collaborations in the future.
“This capacity-building training is very timely, as it is in line with our priority area of improving the skills of our personnel, as well as upgrading security in our facility,” said Tansingco.
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