Picture for illustrative purposes only. ARCHIVE

Trafficking scheme to fake religion for abroad work

Officers from the Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) recently detained two females at Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) who had pretended to be Muslims to travel and work abroad. According to its report to Commissioner Norman Tansingco, the interception of two women, aged 36 and 37, as they tried to board a Cebu Pacific flight bound for Dubai at the NAIA last April 14 revealed the new method of human trafficking syndicates. The two victims stated they were Muslim pilgrims who intended to travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia via bus to perform Umrah. Both indicated they had recently converted to Islam and intended to stay in the Arab countries for seven days. However, BI officers found many contradictions in their answers throughout the interrogation. They eventually acknowledged that their documents were fake, and a woman who handled their visas and tickets recruited them to work as domestic helpers via Facebook. They both went on to say they had to leave the nation and had to pretend to be Muslims. The inter-agency council against trafficking received the two to conduct additional research and begin legal proceedings against their recruiter. He again cautioned overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to deal solely with government organizations that are in charge of finding employment abroad. KD/Expat Media
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