EDITORIAL - No end to trafficking

These were the ones who didn’t get away. Authorities stopped 17 teenage girls from leaving the country earlier this week after they were found to be carrying tampered passports. The girls, aged 14 to 17, were from Maguindanao and Cotabato. They were supposed to take a Hong Kong-bound flight on their way to Syria and Jordan when they were stopped at the NAIA Terminal 3 by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Immigration.

The girls — and their relatives who must have paid a fortune for their travel and employment arrangements — were victims in this operation. Authorities must go after those who lured the girls with fake travel documents and promises of jobs that are surely non-existent. Law enforcers said an immigration agent was suspected of involvement in the human trafficking operation. The traffickers must be arrested and thrown into jail quickly before more teenagers are recruited, mainly from impoverished communities.

The girls should count their blessings that their departure was foiled. Law enforcement agencies have uncovered widespread human trafficking operations that use Filipino women as international drug couriers. The mules are lured by the prospect of free overseas travel and a fast buck, with the going rate reportedly ranging from $1,500 to $3,000 for every kilo of prohibited drugs transported to countries in Europe and Asia.

Victims of the trafficking operations risk rotting in prison forever or even execution if caught in countries with harsh drug laws. Or else they risk dying if the drugs they transport in condoms and similar containers, then swallow or hide in body orifices, burst and the contents are absorbed by their system.

A good way of discouraging the spread of these operations is by seeing to it that the government comes down hard on traffickers and protects the victims. Concerned government agencies should launch information campaigns in impoverished communities — the recruiting grounds of the human traffickers — about the illegal operations. In these campaigns, communities must be told that the risks are simply not worth the promised earnings.