Human trafficking mastermind nabbed

The mastermind of a human trafficking group operating in Zamboanga has been arrested based on the formal complaints made by some of the victims who had been duped to work as undocumented maids in Syria. The Philippine Embassy in Damascus said the rescued women made their complaints before they were repatriated. Paksatul Anding, who also goes by the names Hajja Paksa and Hadja Idang Paksa, was arrested by a composite police team in Zamboanga on June 6 based on an arrest warrant. She was identified through the complaints of the trafficking and illegal recruitment victims who had been in the custody of the Philippine Embassy. The embassy said criminal cases against Hajja Paksa have been filed in the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Sulu and Zamboanga. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration will also file multiple cases against her for human trafficking and large-scale illegal recruitment, which are nonbailable offenses. —DONA Z. PAZZIBUGAN