German arrested for alleged illegal recruitment

CEBU, Philippines — A German national allegedly involved in large-scale illegal recruitment was arrested by National Bureau of Investigation-7 agents at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) last Wednesday.

The NBI said the arrest of Ramon Hansmeyer, 48, stemmed from a request for investigation deferred departure incident by the Inter-Agency Council of the MCIA, involving the suspect and four Filipinos, one of whom is from Cebu.

Hansmeyer, who owns a German language school in Tagaytay, is said to have offered the victims vocational courses in Germany where they will pay €11,000 or about ?700,000.

Arnel Pura, the agent-in-charge of the case, said that when the students were at the Immigration counters of the MCIA, it was found that their vocational training contract was not authenticated.

Because of this, the individuals were turned over by Immigration officials to determine if they are victims of human trafficking or illegal recruitment.

The NBI said based on the records of the Department of Migrant Workers, Hansmeyer is not licensed to recruit for overseas employment.

But Hansmeyer has denied the accusation, saying that his school and his recruitment operation were both legal. (CEBU NEWS)