Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) rescued five Vietnamese nationals believed to be victims of human trafficking in a Pasay City operation.

The NBI-Human Trafficking Division (NBI-HTRAD) agents launched the operation on 11 August after receiving intelligence that a Vietnamese national was recruiting and transporting foreign women, including alleged minors, to Manila for commercial sexual exploitation.

NBI Director Melvin Matibag said an undercover agent contacted the suspect through Telegram and arranged a transaction for a woman to be delivered to a hotel in Pasay.

An entrapment and rescue operation was jointly launched by the NBI and Pasay Social Welfare and Development Department, intercepting two Vietnamese women, including the woman offered to the undercover agent.

The NBI said the victims later led authorities to a condominium unit where their belongings were kept. A sachet of suspected shabu and three drug paraphernalia items inside the unit were found.

Investigators were told by one victim she had previously been housed with other women in another Pasay condominium, prompting a follow-up operation that led to the rescue of three more Vietnamese nationals.

Operatives of the NBI-HTRAD were commended by Matibag for the operation against what he described as a prostitution ring.