The government smashed on Monday a Lebanese-led human-trafficking ring believed working with some corrupt immigration officers during simultaneous operations in Bulacan, Caloocan City and Zamboanga City, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (Paocc) said.
During the operations, government agents arrested the ring leader identified as Pascal Sreih alias Kuya Mario, a Lebanese and his Filipino wife Vilma Rosa Matagay alias Sarah.
The operations were launched in the wake of intelligence reports indicating that the couple was smuggling young Filipino women to Malaysia and Lebanon with the assistance of some rogue immigration officers who are in their payroll.
The Paocc said government agents, including those from the Naval Intelligence Security Force, busted the syndicate, which has gained notoriety for recruiting young Filipino women as domestic helpers in other parts of Europe.
The victims are also being made to pay hefty placement fees.
An investigation showed that the young Filipino women with tourist visas are being smuggled to Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia via Zamboanga City on their way to Lebanon with the help of some corrupt immigration officers.
On Monday the government launched the simultaneous operations in Zamboanga City, San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan and Camarin, Caloocan City, which resulted in the arrest of Sreih, his wife, and two immigration personnel identified as Joey Escobar and Fedel Mendoza and two others.
Undercover agents placed the Lebanese under close surveillance after his name was repeatedly mentioned in the affidavits given by some victims rescued in Zamboanga City on May 28.
The May 28 operation led in the rescue of 10 female human-trafficking victims and the arrest of three suspects inside the Atilano Pension House in Zamboanga City.
The 10 victims claimed they were recruited by suspects based in Harmony 1 Italy Street corner Middle East, San Jose del Monte City.
On August 16 another 10 female would-be victims of the syndicate were also rescued, while one was arrested in a Zamboanga City hotel.
The investigation showed that the victims who came from different places in Ilocos-Pangasinan Region, Cagayan, Isabela, Manila, Caraga region, Laguna and Manila were recruited by the same syndicate.
The victims claimed that Sreih and his wife recruited them as domestic workers in Lebanon and were promised that they will reach Lebanon with the help of the immigration contacts. All were issued tourist visas.
During the investigation, it was discovered that Sreih had assured his recruits that their stay in Lebanon will be “legal and aboveboard.”
However, the Lebanese demanded that each of his recruits surrender their passports to him before they leave the country through the Southern backdoors.
The investigation showed that the applicants who surrendered their passports to the Lebanese were housed in an apartment in Camarin, Caloocan City.
After a week, they will travel to Zamboanga City with spurious travel documents and proceed to Lebanon via the Sandakan route onboard MV Danica Joy 2, a passenger cargo vessel owned and operated by Aleson Shipping Lines Inc. with business address at 172—174 Veterans Avenue, Zamboanga City.
Investigators also discovered that the recruits are made to go to the Zamboanga City International Airport where they are fetched by a “facilitator” who usually took them to the Blue Shark Hotel or Atilano Pension House, both in Canelar, Zamboanga City, while waiting for their travel documents.
The victims are also given instructions to buy two-way tickets M/V Danica Joy 2 tickets and place pink pony tails on their wrists to serve as a “pass code” to the syndicate’s immigration contacts. The pink pony tail will serve as a hint to the immigration officer to stamp their passports without any delay.