PCG: Three young ladies were rescued by the Coast Guard from the hands of a human trafficker in Barangay Pawan, Mapun, Tawi-Tawi last Wednesday, October 22.

The victims were intended to be sent to Sandakan, Malaysia by human trafficker Ann Prado but was temporarily billeted at the house of a certain Ryan Asaral while waiting for an available sea transport.

The incident was reported by a concerned citizen to Coast Guard Station (CGS) Mapun.

In coordination with the barangay chairman of Pawan, the personnel of CGS Mapun verified the report and conducted a rescue operation for Jeremie Alcain, 17 years old, Mhayann Amancio, 18 years old and Robylyn Suplaag, 24 years old. 

The victims revealed that they were all residents of Zamboanga del Sur and Prado have sent them to Mapun, Tawi-Tawi onboard ML Trisha Li. 

After investigation, CGS Mapun escorted the victims to Zamboanga City and properly turned them over to DSWD Region 9 and representatives from Philippine Center on Transnational Crime-Western Mindanao for profiling, stress debriefing, counselling and court referral prior proper disposition.