BI arrests German man at Clark Airport for alleged human trafficking

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has arrested a German national allegedly attempting to spirit away four Filipino women via Clark International Airport.

The women were supposedly hired as caregivers in Germany.

Herbert Joseph Vogt, 72, was intercepted Monday at the Clark International Airport in Angeles City, Pampanga as he and his alleged victims tried to board a flight to Doha, Qatar. From there, they had planned to fly to Germany, the BI said in a statement.

The suspicions of an Immigration officer were aroused when the women claimed to be traveling in pairs and denied knowing each other, Immigration officer in charge Deputy Commissioner Marc Red Mariñas said.

The women were “made to lie about the circumstances of their travel,” Mariñas noted.

But they later admitted that they were hired to work as caregivers at a nursing home in Germany with the help of Vogt, who supposedly assisted in processing their application.

Vogt is also allegedly the women’s German language professor at a “popular university” in Manila. He is now detained at the National Bureau of Investigation, pending the filing of illegal recruitment and human trafficking charges against him, according to the Immigration bureau.

A check with the Germany Embassy in Manila about its awareness of the case and the standard procedure in such incidents has yet to be answered.

The women were referred to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for assistance and further investigation.

Supposed recruiters are actively preying on Filipinos, hiring caregivers for deployment in Germany but without proper work permits in the guise going for a training course, the statement said.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said the bureau has been receiving such reports from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

Aspiring overseas Filipino workers “must only trust accredited recruitment agencies, and must ensure that they have the proper documentation from the POEA,” he said. —VDS/BM, GMA News