Suspected human trafficker held at immigration

An alleged human trafficker who attempted to escort eight suspected victims illegally recruited to work in Israel was stopped by the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

The BI’s Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES) reported that an alleged female trafficker attempted to depart with the victims on an Emirates Airlines flight at Clark International Airport Terminal 2 in the guise of going on a pilgrimage to the country that is caught up in a crisis.

Eventually, the eight victims admitted they were offered a monthly salary of P60,000 to P80,000 to work as hospital and hotel janitors in Israel.

Last year, the Department of Foreign Affairs placed Israel under Crisis Alert Level 2 where only overseas Filipino workers with existing employment contracts were allowed to return there to resume their employment.

The victims were allegedly enticed to work in Israel despite the current dire situation there by the recruiter who was a travel agent. One of the eight victims recounted how the agent promised they would be employed “in a safer part of Israel.”

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the recruiter should be put behind bars for deigning to put her victims in harm’s way.