The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday warned against Manila-based illegal recruiters who left seven Filipinos stranded in the Cuban capital of Havana.

In a report to its home office, the Philippine Embassy in Havana sounded alarm over the human trafficking operations carried out by certain Leonid ‘Ned’ Pascual who led the group in luring a number of Filipinos to pay huge sum of money in exchange for a job in the Bahamas.

The embassy said that since 2008, Pascual’s group attempted to traffic Filipinos disguising as tourists to the Bahamas via Havana four times making the number of victimized Filipinos to seven.

“The Philippine Embassy urges Filipino jobseekers not to deal with Leonid ‘Ned’ Pascual, and instead report him and his cohorts, notably a certain Pascuala ‘Peachy’ Ramos, to police authorities,” it said.

Pascual is in Cuba’s immigration blacklist for his alleged involvement in previous cases of human trafficking.

The National Bureau of Investigation and Task Force Against Illegal Recruitment headed by Vice President Noli De Castro are now looking into the issue.

The DFA said Cuban authorities learned of two attempts made in July 2008 and April 2009 when the victims were left stranded in Havana.

Two other attempts, made in December 2008 and January 2009, managed to bring the Filipinos to the Bahamas, it added.

“However, the Filipinos were abandoned by Pascual and his cohorts without any job or lodgings,” the department said, citing that the embassy is facilitating the repatriation of stranded Filipinos.

The embassy said that aware of these human trafficking operations, the Bahamanian Embassy in Havana will reject visas of suspicious applicants and Cuban immigration authorities are ready to apprehend and incarcerate anyone who violated their laws.

“The DFA reiterates its warning to the public to be wary of recruiters promising lucrative employment opportunities abroad and to first verify such opportunities with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to avoid being victimized,” it said.