The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Tuesday said it has intercepted five individuals at the Mactan–Cebu International Airport (MCIA) who were allegedly bound for a human trafficking scheme disguised as overseas employment.

BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said the group, composed of four women and one man aged late 30s to mid-40s, was stopped on 12 April before boarding a Cathay Pacific flight.

Initial screening raised red flags after the passengers claimed they were private sector employees traveling to Thailand for leisure to attend the Songkran Festival. 

Immigration officers later referred them for secondary inspection.

During further questioning, the group admitted they were actually en route to Albania to work as cleaners.

Authorities said the passengers revealed they each paid around P90,000 to a recruiter who instructed them to travel first to Thailand, where they would wait for their visas and onward arrangements to Albania.

Viado warned that similar trafficking schemes targeting Filipinos appear to be re-emerging, particularly those routing victims through third countries.

“Amid rising economic pressures, trafficking schemes continue to prey on Filipinos by luring them with deceptive job offers abroad,” he said.

The BI chief added that stricter departure screening measures remain in place to detect and prevent such illegal activities at international gateways.

The intercepted passengers were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and the possible filing of charges against those behind the recruitment scheme.