BI uncovers new trafficking scheme

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BI uncovers new trafficking scheme

MANILA CITY, Metro Manila ·

posted 5-Aug-2012 ·

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Immigration officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have stumbled upon a new ploy of human trafficking syndicates when they recently thwarted an attempt by two women to leave for Korea who pretended they are married to Koreans.

Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. disclosed that the women were intercepted last July 10 at the NAIA 3 terminal by elements from the agency’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU).

David said the passengers, who later admitted they were hired to work as factory workers in Korea , presented fake marriage certificates purportedly showing that they are married to Korean citizens.

He added that the women’s passports were stamped with valid fiancée visas by the South Korean embassy and stickers from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFOs).

“It was evident that their visas were legally obtained and they could not have done it without the help of their recruiters who invented the scheme meant to deceive our immigration officers at the airport,” David said.

The BI chief again declined to divulge the women’s names as the anti-human trafficking act forbids the public disclosure of human trafficking victims.

It was gathered that when interviewed, both women alleged that their Korean husbands left the country a day after their marriage.

They said they met their husbands only once because they were introduced to and communicated with the latter only via the Internet.

Their ploy was, however, exposed after they gave conflicting answers to questions posed by BI investigators.

One of them said their marriage was solemnized at a residential house in Parañaque although the marriage certificate show it happened at a protestant church in Quezon City .

The other woman said they were marriage was solemnized by a judge at the Max Restaurant in SM Manila but the marriage certificate show it was solemnized by a pastor.

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