Immigration
authorities on Wednesday, August 14, stopped 21 Overseas Filipino Workers
(OFW’s) from leaving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport as they were
potential victims of human trafficking. Officer-in-Charge Siegfred Mison said
that the workers were intercepted when they had presented questionable travel
documents. This has been the latest human trafficking case that the Bureau of
Immigration has encountered. Last August 7, 12 workers were stopped from
travelling to Singapore for similar reasons. The group posed as travellers who
would be heading to Dubai as their final destination for vacation, however upon
questioning it was found that the answers given were inconsistent. Two days
after, another group of 9 travellers were stopped from travelling. ““We
reiterate our warning to these [human-trafficking] syndicates: Stop employing
various schemes to trick our immigration officers into allowing their victims
to leave because it will not work,” Mison said.”
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