THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) intercepted the departure of a female trafficking victim pretending to be an interpol agent.
BI immigration protection and border enforcement section (I-PROBES) Bienvenido Castillo III reported the interception of a 34-year-old victim last March 8 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 after attempting to depart on board an Air Asia flight to Bangkok, Thailand.
The victim, according to Castillo, was made to pose as an interpol agent, under the Protective Intelligence Anti-Crime Organization (PIAO).
The victim presented an identification card and letter orders from PIAO, saying that she is allowed to travel for a holiday.
However, the immigration officer noted inconsistencies in her statements and referred her for secondary inspection.
“It was then that she admitted that her documents are fake, and that she was recruited via Facebook to work as a household service worker in Thailand,” said Castillo. “Her recruiter reportedly offered her P40,000 salary before giving her the documents,” he added.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco lamented the use of creative stories and documents by traffickers to traffic their victims.
“Our immigration officers are well-trained to spot inconsistencies and fraud, hence such attempts will not succeed,” he stated. The victim was turned over to the inter-agency council against trafficking for filing of cases against her recruiters.
