Malaysian couple arrested at NAIA for escorting three OFWs

Airport immigration officers arrested a Malaysian couple last June 20 for allegedly escorting three undocumented overseas Filipino workers to Malaysia. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Sunday the couple was apprehended at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport 3 as they were to board a Cebu Pacific flight. Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said the couple was accompanying three male victims. According to the Immigration Bureau, the three admitted they were hired to work as mechanics and welders for the Jin San Transport Contractor Snd. Bhd., a construction company owned by the Malaysians. The three victims pointed to the couple as their recruiters who facilitated their travel, saying the couple secured their single-entry tourist visa from the Malaysian Embassy in Manila. David declined to divulge the names of the foreigners and OFWs as the law prohibits the public disclosure of human traffickers and their victims. The couple was later turned over to officials of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) at the NAIA for filing of appropriate criminal charges. Blacklist BI spokesperson and acting intelligence chief lawyer Ma. Antonette Mangrobang said the Malaysians were placed on the bureau’s blacklist to prevent them from re-entering the country. She said an initial investigation showed the couple arrived in Manila last June 18 and accompanied the victims to the Malaysian Embassy the next day. “They presented to the embassy the employment contracts of the victims so they were immediately given their visa,” Mangrobang said. She said the BI will only deport the couple after they are charged and have served their sentence, if convicted. — RSJ, GMA News

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