American applying for NBI clearance nabbed for ‘trafficking’ people

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

ILOILO CITY– Instead of getting a clearance, an American employee of a business process outsourcing here was arrested at the office of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Western Visayas on Tuesday.

NBI personnel detained Jack Thomas Allen when he was about to get his clearance after his application was flagged for a pending arrest warrant, said NBI agent John Katipunan.

The National Capital Region (NCR) Regional Trial Court Branch 12 issued the arrest order against Allen and three other persons on June 13, 2007, for qualified trafficking in persons.

The order issued by Judge Ruben Reynaldo Roxas recommended no bail for the accused.

Allen is also facing a complaint before the anti-fraud and computer crimes division of the NBI NCR office.

Allen denied violating any law.

“I have not committed any crime in my life. I would not have come here if I did. The worst that I committed was a traffic violation. This is crazy,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer at the NBI office.

He refused to speak further as he was still waiting for his lawyer.  SFM