MANILA - Fake Bureau of Immigration (BI) stamps and stamp pads are being handed out by human traffickers to enable their victims to stamp their own passports and attempt to get past airport officials, the BI commissioner said Thursday.

The new modus was discovered when BI officials asked a Filipina who was supposed to board a Cathay Pacific flight to Dubai at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminal 3 to undergo secondary inspection.

The victim, who was disguised as a tourist, later admitted that she was going to Dubai to work as a maid, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said.

After interrogation, she admitted that she met up with her "agent" at a restaurant in Pasay City before going to the airport to receive her fake departure stamp, Morente said.

The woman said she was instructed by her traffickers to "stamp her passport and boarding pass" as she was previously offloaded at the Clark International Airport (CIA) for being a suspected "tourist worker" or an undocumented overseas worker disguised as tourist.

The woman has been turned over to the custody of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation, BI spokesperson Atty. Ma. Antonette Mangrobang said.

The BI has deployed more intelligence agents in international airports to "ensure that no passenger could sneak past the BI counters undetected and evade immigration inspection," officials said.