Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have intercepted four men who tried to leave illegally and work in the war-torn Libya.
BI port operations chief Grifton Medina said the passengers were stopped at the departure area of the NAIA 1 terminal last Friday, attempting to board their flight to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU) chief Timotea Barizo said the four pretended to be tourists and planned to proceed to Amman, Jordan, before proceeding to their final destination where they were hired to work as aircon technicians and pipe fitters.
“They said they were recruited to work in Libya despite the deployment ban at the initiative of their friends and relatives who are already working there,” Barizo added.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente commended the immigration officers for preventing the departure of the four passengers, saying the latter’s safety would have been in peril if not for the vigilance of the BI personnel.
Morente said the incident should prompt BI officers at the airport to be doubly strict in enforcing the ban on the deployment of overseas workers to Libya where a civil war among various factions has been going on for several years.
“We cannot allow our countrymen to be put in harm’s way by working in such dangerous places” the BI chief stressed.
He advised prospective overseas workers to go instead to other peaceful countries where they could make a living for their families.
Investigation showed that the return tickets presented by the four passengers were not valid, thus raising suspicion that they are not tourists.
They later admitted that they were encouraged to go to Libya because high-paying jobs await them. (Jun Ramirez)
