EDITORIAL - Cebu as a criminal base

Four Nigerians were arrested Monday afternoon in Barangay Marigondon, Lapu-Lapu City, with false government IDs and documents. According to the National Bureau of Investigation, the four were allegedly planning to use the documents to set up an online scam operation.

For those not familiar, this is the one where scammers call, text, or email people trying to trick them into giving personal or financial information. These operations are actually common in countries like India and China, but have also started to take root here.

We may not yet have a clear picture of what those Nigerians were planning to do here but if they were so keen on faking or hiding their identities and using false documents then we can be certain it was not the honest kind of livelihood.

Which raises a question. Haven’t foreign criminals been using Cebu as a base of operations too frequently recently?

Last month saw two Chinese kidnap victims rescued in Lapu-Lapu City where they were being held by their captors, mostly gangs of fellow Chinese nationals. One was kidnapped in Cebu City and the other in Lapu-Lapu City.

And now Nigerian syndicates are thinking of operating here as well?

Is there something here that attracts not just tourists and businessmen but also those who want to take advantage of them as well as others? And by “those” we don’t mean the local merchants, souvenir hawkers, and others who earn an honest living.

Again, we would like remind our government officials and law enforcers that everything must be done to deter criminals, whether local or foreign, from setting up shop here.

Cebu, the top tourist destination in the country as well as the richest province, stands to lose a lot if we get the reputation as a haven for criminals and their operations.

Cebu is known for its hospitality, but this should not extend to those who want to set up a criminal enterprise here.