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Feigning illness, riding on wheelchair did not pay off for 'suspected trafficking victim'

Philippines | National

Feigning illness, riding on wheelchair did not pay off for 'suspected trafficking victim'

By Jeffrey Damicog

At A Glance

A Filipino female passenger bound for Thailand pretended she was ill and took a wheelchair so she could pass briskly through inspection at Terminal I of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

(Unsplash)

A Filipino female passenger bound for Thailand pretended she was ill and took a wheelchair so she could pass briskly through inspection at Terminal I of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Her pretentions did not pay off as members of the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) Protection and Border Enforcement Section (BI-PROBES) noticed her gimmicks and ordered her arrested on Thursday, Aug. 17.

The BI did not give the name of the female passenger. It said: “She admitted that her recruiter instructed her to feign sickness so she can use a wheelchair.”

It said she also “admitted that she was actually recruited to work as a household service worker in Lebanon, and her recruiter promised her that if her Lebanon visa will not be approved, she will be shuttled to Hong Kong to look for a possible job.”

It also said “she was instructed by her recruiter to delete all conversations with her recruiter on her mobile phone.”

The BI has referred the suspected human trafficking victim to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for assistance and further investigation.

Related Tags

Ninoy Aquino International Airport wheelchair

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