MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has rescued nine alleged victims of human trafficking at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

BI port operations division chief Grifton Medina said the passengers were intercepted while attempting to leave for South Korea.

Medina said the passengers were about to board an Air Asia flight to Taipei on Dec. 20 when they were intercepted by members of the BI travel control and enforcement unit.

“They admitted that they were illegally recruited to work as orange pickers in a plantation on Jeju Island without working permits,” he said.

He said the passengers initially said they were traveling as tourists to watch a Nanta acrobatic exhibition show in South Korea.

When pressed on the actual purpose of their trip, they confessed that they were hired to work with a promised monthly salary of P65,000, Medina said.

The victims, whose identities were not revealed due to a prohibition in the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Law, were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for assistance and further investigation.

On Dec. 17, immigration officers intercepted at the NAIA eight trafficking victims, who were illegally recruited to work in Cyprus.

Authorities believed that a human trafficking ring could be behind these incidents. – Rudy Santos