MANILA, Philippines – Four Filipino women victimized by human traffickers and forced to work in nightclubs were rescued by the Royal Malaysia Police earlier this week, the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has reported.
The four were locked up and forced to work in a night club in Johor Baru, some 220 kilometers away from Kuala Lumpur and is near the Malaysian border with Singapore.
The Embassy lauded the quick action undertaken by the Malaysian police, through its Criminal Investigation Division (CID)-Anti-Human Trafficking Section, Ambassador J. Eduardo Malaya said.
The victims, all residents of Metro Manila, were allegedly recruited and escorted by a certain Ramil Garcia from Manila to Zamboanga and then Sandakan in Sabah, with the promise of high-paying jobs in Malaysia .
When they arrived in Sandakan, Garcia turned them over to a certain Norminda Buko Whigan for "sale" to night club owners as customer service workers. The Filipinas were informed of their real work only upon their arrival in Sandakan .
After a two-week stay in Sandakan and with no offers from club owners there, the traffickers brought the women by plane to Johor Bahru in West Malaysia, where they were offered to a club owner Emy Wong.
The ladies were locked up at the Wong residence, and made to work at the club the following day.
The women, with ages between 27 to 36 years old, eventually were able to ask for help from the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and others, which alerted the Embassy.
In the evening of April 18, Malaysian CID agents, accompanied by two Embassy officials, proceeded to Johor Bahru in West Malaysia and raided the club.
The club owner had left the club, together with the Filipinas, minutes before the police arrived.
The team then proceeded to the Wong residence, where the Filipinas were locked up, and rescued the four Filipinas. The police also arrested Mrs. Wong's husband, who was in the house. Mrs. Wong is now being pursued by authorities.
The Filipinas were then brought before a local judge, who issued an interim protection order. They are now in a shelter run by Malaysian police and welfare authorities. They will later be turned over to the Embassy for repatriation to Manila .
The Embassy reminded Filipinos to be aware of the modus operandi of trafficking syndicates, so as to protect themselves from becoming victims.
"Our Filipinos should already beware anytime they are made to exit through the ‘back door’ in the Tawi-Tawi area without proper documentations. In most likelihood, they are being trafficked already," the Embassy said.
source: interaksyon.com
