BI: Axed officers may be linked to trafficking rings in Cambodia, Myanmar
Bureau of Immigration. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ ALEXIS CORPUZ
MANILA, Philippines — The three relieved immigration officers may be linked to syndicates of human trafficking in Cambodia and Myanmar, according to Bureau of Immigration (BI) spokesperson Dana Sandoval.
“While it might be early to jump into conclusions but ‘yung initial reports na natanggap natin is there might be a link dito sa illegal syndicates na ito [sa Cambodia at Myanmar] at doon sa mga iniimbestigahan natin,” she said in a public briefing Friday.
(While it might be early to jump to conclusions but in the initial reports that we received, there might be a link to these illegal syndicates and the BI officers that we are investigating.)
Sandoval said the BI is in initial stages of investigating the three personnel, two of them were assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) and one at the Clark International Airport (CIA).
READ: BI relieves 2 personnel over alleged ties to human trafficking ring
“They have been assigned in back-end offices, removed from the frontlines para maging smooth ‘yung ating investigation, walang hindrance doon sa investigation,” she said.
(They have been assigned in back-end offices so that the investigation will go smoothly, there will be no hindrance to it.)
Senator Risa Hontiveros earlier said that an informant linked BI officers at the CIA to the trafficking of Filipinos to Cambodia. “Miles,” a Filipina allegedly trafficked to work as a cryptocurrency crook for a Chinese scammer in Cambodia, told the senator that recruiters supposedly pay around P75,000 to P100,000 to immigration officers for every Filipino they allow to leave the country without question.
READ: Filipino trafficking victim in Cambodia speaks up on abuses of Chinese bosses
Sandoval said that ff the tagged immigration officers were found involved in human trafficking, the BI will forward the case to the Department of Justice for the immediate filing of administrative cases.
