MANILA, (PNA) — Immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport stopped 10 suspected human trafficking victims bound for Russia from leaving the country.
Immigration Officer-in-Charge Siegfred Mison said the passengers were intercepted at the NAIA departure area last Sept. 9 as they were about to board a Qatar Airlines flight to Moscow.
Mison said the incident should again serve as a warning to would-be overseas contract workers against attempting to leave without the required overseas employment permits from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.
“We remain vigilant in our campaign against human trafficking and there will be no letup in our efforts to frustrate the schemes of these syndicates that prey on our poor countrymen,” the immigration chief said.
Atty. Floro Balato, who heads the bureau’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit, said the passengers had claimed they were going to Russia to study the Russian language but would seek employment there after finishing their course.
Balato reported that five of the passengers were initially invited for questioning after they were spotted queuing at the immigration counter.
Two of them admitted that they were previously offloaded last March when they tried to leave for Doha, Qatar.
The passengers then informed their interviewers that five of their companions were already at the airport’s boarding gate.
Said passengers were, however, stopped by alert TCEU members at the airport’s Gate No. 15 before they could board their plane.
All 10 passengers were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for investigation.
Their names were not divulged as the anti-trafficking law prohibits the public disclosure of human traffickers and their victims.