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January 12, 2026 | 1:07pm
Photo showing an immigration clearance lane at the airport from the Bureau of Immigration.
BI via FB
MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration intercepted two Filipino men at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 on January 2, preventing them from becoming victims of a human trafficking scheme bound for Russia.
The BI said the passengers, aged 48 and 52, were stopped before boarding a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong, according to the agency’s statement released Sunday, January 11.
Immigration officers said the two initially presented themselves as tourists, but a secondary inspection showed their travel was intended to facilitate illegal employment abroad.
During the investigation, the men admitted they had been recruited through social media. Their recruiter promised them legal work in Russia with monthly salaries ranging from P100,000 to P150,000, the BI said.
The victims also described a “wait-and-see” tactic used by the traffickers, in which they were instructed to fly to Hong Kong first and wait for their visas and onward tickets to Russia.
The BI said it had received prior intelligence about a larger group targeted for trafficking to Russia, prompting officers to closely monitor passengers with inconsistent travel accounts.
The two men were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for assistance and to support the filing of criminal charges against their recruiters.
