Immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport intercepted a woman who tried to leave the country by sticking an artificial mole to her face, the Bureau of Immigration reported Thursday.
Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. said the female passenger was a human trafficking victim who was attempting to leave for Singapore illegally.
“She wore an artificial mole to make it appear that she and the woman in her passport who is her look-alike are one and the same,” David said.
The commissioner declined to reveal the passenger’s name in accordance with the anti-trafficking law which forbids the public disclosure of human trafficking victims.
According to the report, the immigration officers noticed dissimilarities in the facial features of the passenger compared to the picture of the woman in her passport.
“The passenger was asked to wipe her face with a handkerchief which caused the removal of the fake mole in her face,” the report said.
The woman was reportedly traveling as a tourist but had no hotel reservation and could not explain her purpose in going to Singapore.
She was later turned over to officials of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking at the NAIA for further investigation.
David warned other Filipinos who want to work abroad to stop using tricks to leave the country illegally.
“Such tricky and deceptive schemes will not work because it will not escape the watchful eyes of our people at the airports,” he said.
