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ZAMBOANGA CITY (MindaNews/21 February) – Authorities rescued in separate incidents this week 119 victims of human trafficking bound for Sabah, Malaysia.
Basilan police director Senior Supt. Mario Dapillosa said 113 persons – 68 men, 29 women and 16 children — were rescued Tuesday in Taganak, Tawi-tawi.
The victims were rescued by combined police, coast guard and marine forces while they were en route to Malaysia, he said
Dapillosa said the victims were recruited from the provinces of Basilan, Zamboanga Sibugay and Davao City to work in an oil palm plantation in Sabah, Malaysia.
Dapillosa said investigations are ongoing to establish the recruiters’ real identities, one of of whom was identified only as a certain Edris, for the filing of appropriate charges.
Rescued at a private wharf in Barangay Baliwasan in this city Monday night were six persons — two men and four women, according to Chief Insp. Alexander Lorenzo, field officer of the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime (PCTC)
Four of those who were rescued were from Midsayap in North Cotabato while the two others are from this city.
They were recruited to work on a dried fish production firm in Sabah, Malaysia.
Lorenzo said the victims were about to board a vessel for Taganak , Tawi-Tawi from where they will transfer to another vessel that would take them to Sabah. (MindaNews)
