Man nabbed at NAIA for deploying Filipina workers disguised as boxers

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has arrested a man suspected of working as a courier for a syndicate engaged in trafficking undocumented Filipina workers, disguised as boxers, to the Middle East.
Rexsan Naval Godala was intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 last October 2 before he and two of his companions were about to board a flight to Bangkok.
The BI said Godala, who allegedly introduced himself as a professional boxing trainer, was supposed to escort the women who pretended to be boxers and wore jersey shirts emblazoned with a logo of the Philippine flag.
“It turned out that he was not a boxing trainer and that the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) license and letter of authority purportedly signed by GAB chairman Abraham Mitra which he presented are spurious,” BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said.
Citing the two women's accounts, Morente said that upon arriving in Bangkok they would take a connecting flight to Dubai where they were hired to work as a maid and waitress, respectively.
All three passengers were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and filing of proper charges.
According to the BI, it was not the first time that Godala was seen accompanying Filipinas posing as boxers in their trips abroad.
Godala reportedly managed to escort out of the country on September 14 two women similarly disguised and dressed as boxers.
The women never returned to the country, the BI said, despite Godala’s claim at the time that the “boxers” would return after only two days.
Godala also accompanied on August 28 three other women bound for Thailand, supposedly to participate in a boxing competition there, the agency said. —ALG, GMA News

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