By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Pretending to be an agent of the International Police (Interpol), the cover of a 34-year-old woman who was lured via Facebook by illegal recruiters to work in Thailand for the promised P40,000 monthly wage was blown by an eagle-eyed Bureau of Immigration (BI) officer at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The “fake” Interpol agent was prevented by the BI from boarding a flight to Bangkok at NAIA Terminal 3 on Friday (8 March 2024).
On Saturday, the BI revealed that the woman presented an identification card and letter order from the Protective Intelligence Anti-Crime Organization (PIAO) that stated she was allowed to travel for a holiday.
However, the immigration officer became suspicious after finding inconsistencies in her statements.
The woman, whose identity was withheld, eventually admitted to presenting counterfeit documents during a secondary inspection.
“It was then that she admitted that her documents were fake and that she was recruited via Facebook to work as a household service worker in Thailand. Her recruiter reportedly offered her a P40,000 salary before giving her the documents,” BI immigration protection and border enforcement section (I-PROBES) official Bienvenido Castillo III said.
The woman has been turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for the filing of charges against her “illegal” recruiters.
(el Amigo/MNM)