NBI arrests two illegal recruiters in Paranaque

One of the arrested illegal recruiters

Members of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested two suspected illegal recruiters and rescued 16 of their victims in Paranaque this morning.

Lawyer Bernard dela Cruz, of the NBI-Ninoy Aquino International Airport, said four of the victims were intercepted at the Manila international airport as they were about to leave for the Middle East.

The NBI identified the suspected illegal recruiters as Louie Zyburn Manzon Torre and Efren Esmenio.

Dela Cruz said the female victims, who were recruited from Iloilo and Cagayan de Oro, were intercepted at the NAIA Terminal 1 as they were about to board their flight for Malaysia, where they had a connecting flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The victims were made to pretend as tourists but, when investigators interviewed them, the four women admitted that they were recruited to work as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East.

A composite team of NBI agents and officials of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) then raided the house at Block 4, Lot 2, Veraville Homes 2, San Isidro, Paranaque City where the four victims had stayed.

The raiding team found there 12 other women who were also preparing to go to the Middle East.