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PAOCC, PNP agents rescue 19 human trafficking victims

February 8, 2023 Alfred P. Dalizon 431 views

A PRESIDENTIAL Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC)-initiated police anti-human trafficking operation in Mindanao on Tuesday resulted in the rescue of 19 persons, including one minor and two toddlers set to be smuggled to Malaysia by a syndicate, officials said Tuesday.

Members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) under Major Gen. Edgar Alan O. Okubo rescued the 19 at the Bongao Port in Poblacion, Tawi-Tawi, on Tuesday afternoon, a report to PNP Chief Gen. Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr.

The rescue operation led by commandos from the SAF’s 51st Special Action Company (SAC) was orchestrated by the PAOCC headed by Executive Secretary Lucas P. Bersamin, according to its Executive Director, retired Major Gen. Gilbert DC Cruz.

Officers from the Marine Brigade Landing Teams 7 and 12, the PNP Maritime Group, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, the Municipal Inter-Agency Committee against Trafficking in Persons and the Tawi-Tawi Provincial Mobile Force Company were also involved in the operation as part of the PAOCC’s ‘whole-of-government’ approach to battle crime, terror and corruption in the country, Cruz said.

Under its Coplan: Fishnet, officers rescued the victims composed of seven females and nine males, the majority of them residents of Zamboanga del Norte while others were from Zamboanga del Sur and Zamboanga City while about to be brought to Sabah, Malaysia, via the so-called “Southern backdoors.”

Also rescued were one boy and a girl, both 2-year-old and a toddler. The youngest of the rescued females is 17 years old. Another is 18 years old, while the eldest is 48.

Of the adult males, the youngest is only 18, while the eldest is 50 years old.

However, no arrests were made during the operation.

The PAOCC said that the victims were all from the Zamboanga peninsula and were about to be transported to Malaysia and other nearby countries thru the Tawi-Tawi backdoor without any protection from the government.

“Some will be forced to work as GROs (Guest Relation Officers) in local nightclubs or construction workers without any permit,” said Cruz.

The Tawi-Tawi Maritime Police Station took temporary custody of the rescued victims for proper documentation and disposition.

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