2 Pinays in Dubai jail released, but 1 remains

The Department of Foreign Affairs said yesterday the two Filipinas arrested and detained for alleged espionage involvement had been released but still another one was being held by Dubai authorities.

A DFA official who asked not to be named identified the two as Aileen Castillo and Erlinda Montano, public relations officer and accountant of the SSS Corporate Research, respectively.

According to the source, Philippine authorities are still making representations so the other Filipina, Mirasol Cuaresma, who was secretary to the general manager, will be released to their custody.

The source said that Cuaresma would just be produced by the Philippine authorities everytime needed for the investigation.

The three Filipinos were among the 19 people arrested in the United Arab Emirates in connection with possession of illegal surveillance equipment.

The arrest came Tuesday last week during raids on three companies in Abu Dhabi and Dubai as part of authorities’ corporate investigation and research activities in the country.

Those arrested included staff from Britain, the Philippines, Morocco, Jordan and Yemen.

The three companies raided were SSS Corporate Research, Leisure International and Middle East Research Group.

Both SSS and Leisure are subsidiaries of International Corporate Research and have offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Earlier reports quoted an ICR official as saying the company "has legitimate business in the Emirates and does not use surveillance equipment."