Police rescue over 1,000 alleged trafficking victims in Metro Manila online casino hub

MANILA: Philippine police said on Tuesday (Jun 27) they have rescued more than 1,000 people allegedly trafficked into the country to work for an online casino in Manila.

Chinese, Vietnamese, Singaporean and Malaysian victims were among those found when police raided buildings in the capital on Monday night.

People from Indonesia, Pakistan, Cameroon, Sudan, and Myanmar were also found inside the compound.

More than 2,700 people were detained during the raids – over 1,500 were Filipinos.

Philippine authorities are interviewing the detainees to identify who was a victim or suspect, said police Captain Michelle Sabino, a spokeswoman for the anti-cybercrime unit.

International concern has been growing over internet scams in the Asia-Pacific region, often staffed by trafficking victims tricked or coerced into promoting bogus crypto investments.

Sabino said the alleged trafficking victims had accepted jobs posted on Facebook to work in the Philippines “to find players” for online games.

Many of them were forced to work 12-hour shifts every day for as little as 24,000 pesos (US$433) a month, and were prevented from leaving the compound, she said.

Sabino described it as the biggest anti-trafficking raid in the Philippines.

AFP journalists at the scene on Tuesday saw two police buses and two police trucks parked outside the compound. They were not allowed to enter the buildings.

Sabino said “everything will be investigated”, including whether the workers were involved in online rackets.

In May, authorities rescued more than a thousand people from several Asian nations who had been trafficked into the Philippines, held captive and forced to run online scams.

The International Organization for Migration said victims were often ensnared by traffickers with the prospect of “better jobs with high salaries and enticing perks”.

“One very noticeable aspect in these online scams, which is different to other forms of trafficking, is that education offers no immunity as we have seen even well-educated professionals become victims,” Itayi Viriri, IOM senior regional spokesman for Asia-Pacific, told AFP.

Viriri said victims were typically “trapped in a world of exploitation where they endure abuse, confiscation of travel documents, and isolation from their peers”.

“We therefore commend the actions taken by the Philippines authorities to intervene as it is clear that victims are basically hostages to their traffickers and as such rely on external intervention to break free from their captors,” Viriri said.

Philippine senator Risa Hontiveros recently warned that “scam call centers” were operating in the Philippines and employing foreigners trafficked into the country.

In its 2023 human trafficking report, the US State Department said the Philippines “did not vigorously investigate or prosecute labour trafficking crimes that occurred within” the country.

“Corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns,” it said.

CNA has contacted Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the police for more information.

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