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ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanews/26 October) – Four women from Metro Manila were rescued Saturday noon by the multi-agency Sea-Based Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force (SBATTF), in an east coast barangay here.
Senior Supt. Angelito Casimiro, Zamboanga City Police Office (ZCPO) director, said the four women were rescued around 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the residence of Jinnura Asdali in Sitio Kalang, Barangay Sangali.
Casimiro said the rescued women were recruited to work in Malaysia by a certain Noraisa Kamsa.
Casimiro said that investigation showed Kamsa left for Malaysia last October 8 together with five other victims of trafficking in person.
He said the suspected illegal recruiter is scheduled to return to this city to accompany the four rescued women to Malaysia.
He said the rescue of the victims came after the ZCPO’s Police Station based in Barangay Sangali received information about the presence of the women bound for Malaysia.
Authorities here have tightened watch since human traffickers are using this city as jump-off point in smuggling persons into Malaysia and to other Middle East countries.
Commercial ferries ply the route between Zamboanga City and Sandakan in Sabah, Malaysia. In previous rescue missions, victims of trafficking in person were rescued in Tawi-Tawi, en route to Malaysia.
Most if not all of the victims were promised high-paying jobs but ended up working in entertainment establishments.
Casimiro said the rescued women were placed under the custody of the SBATTF. (MindaNews)