A young caregiver was arrested after she was intercepted at NAIA on her way to Dubai.
In a strange twist to the story, the girl was wearing what was supposed to be an ‘Invisible Amulet,’ one which was suppose to make her invisible to immigration agents before she was to board her plane to Saudi Arabia.
Officials are looking into the possibility of an illegal recruiter who victimised the caregiver – the NAIA Task Force against ‘Trafficking in Persons’ said they will look into the matter as the girl was told to arrive at the airport and to look for a helper (possibly an insider) at the airport that was working with the recruiter.
A report on the matter showed that the victim was instructed by the recruiter to avoid going through immigration – leading investigators to believe that someone was waiting behind the counters for the young lady.
Investigators believe that person would affix the needed Bureau of Immigration Border Stamps to the victim’s passport to get her past immigration and into the UAE.
But the story doesn’t end there – this was the young woman’s third attempt to leave the country for Dubai – the first two times she tried to leave the Philippines posing as a tourist. She was apprehended trying to bypass the immigration counter each time.
The young woman told immigration that she was going to Dubai via an uncle who was also her sponsor for the trip. Immigration officials did not allow the girl to leave after she failed to show documentation of her sponsorship or her claims of going to Dubai as a tourist.
After questioning the young caregiver, she told officials that she answered a Facebook ad about a caregiver job in Dubai – she was asked to pay 16,000 pesos processing fee for her travel documents – through various processes she took out a tourist visa to the UAE and was handed a copy of a passport of a man she did not know (this person was the supposed uncle).
The recruiter told the girl on her third attempt to leave for Dubai that she was to wear an ‘Invisible Amulet’ claiming it was from an Aeta Tribesman and was forced to pay 750 pesos for it.
The task force report on the incident said “The passenger during the investigation and counseling of the duty social worker [said] that she was desperate to go abroad as they [she and her family] were deep in debt because of her expenses incurred in trying to work abroad.”
The statement went on to say “Worried that she would be spotted again while following the instruction to evade the immigration, she bought an amulet for P750 from an Aeta purportedly to render her invisible. However, she was obviously seen as she was caught again.”
The women was taken to NBI to file a formal complaint against the illegal recruiter – NAIA-TFATP are also conducting their own investigation into the matter in an attempt to find the person who was the supposed insider in NAIA.
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