Woman rescued from human traffickers

They'd come 8,000 miles to rescue her and watched as police raided an apartment where she may have been held captive.

But they were too late. Neighbors say a fleet of taxis arrived a couple days earlier and took Lannie Ejercito and fifteen other young people away.

Lannie's uncle Troop and his friend, retired FBI agent Jerry Howe, asked cabbies if they remembered seeing Lannie or the others.

Troop Edmonds: This person. Two pictures of this person.
Taxi driver: This person? No, no.

They were desperate, even willing to consult a local faith healer with a reputation for finding missing persons.

Then -- finally -- a break. Word that Lannie has surfaced in of all places a police station.

They race over to see her. And Troop and Lannie are reunited behind closed doors.

Lannie: I've been waiting for you.
Troop Edmonds: Oh, I know. Your mother ... your mother is so worried. (Lannie's crying) So worried.

Troop Edmonds: As soon as i walked in that door she jumped up and she gave me this really strong hug. And she was squeezing me hard. And she just wouldn't let me go. I thought Lannie was just going to go with us and that was it. And-- turns out that wasn't it.

The reunion is short-lived. Jerry and Troop discover that Lannie was brought to the police station by Kenny Kang, one of the people who has been holding her captive. Kang, who reportedly has ties to Chinese organized crime, may have brought her in to convince police she is not being held against her will.

In fact, she's been saying all is well--she's fine.

Jerry Howe: Lannie had already given them a statement saying that Kang wasn't doing anything wrong. But--
Chris Hansen: And what was your problem with that statement?
Jerry Howe: Well, he was there.

The Malaysian police were interviewing Lannie with Kenny Kang sitting right next to her.

Jerry Howe, who's conducted hundreds of interviews during his 26 years in the FBI, is shocked that the lead detective failed to separate the victim from the victimizer.

Jerry Howe: And when I suggested that, it's like the light bulb went off in his head. "Oh, yeah, that's a good idea." (laughter) And they'll move-- they moved him away from her so should could speak. But she was still terrified.

Kang is moved to an adjoining room where he proceeds to make himself at home.

Chris Hansen: Did it appear to you that Kenny Kang had a preexisting relationship with some of the police officers?
Jerry Howe: Boy, did I-- I got that impression. I just--
Chris Hansen: And what gave you that impression?
Jerry Howe: Well, he's laughing. He's making phone calls. He's joking with the police officer that he's with. And we can see all this through the glass in the offices there. I was--
Chris Hansen: He was treating this as a minor inconvenience?
Jerry Howe: Right. Minor inconvenience. And thought he was going to leave.

But now, with Kang out of earshot, Lannie makes clear where she stands. She wants out. But that's easier said than done.

Chris Hansen: Who had the passport?
Jerry Howe: Kang.

And he isn't about to give it back.

Now her uncle's blood was beginning to boil. He wasn't leaving without the passport, and he wasn't the slightest bit afraid of a showdown with Kang, a reputed mobster.

Troop Edmonds: Do you have ... do you have the passport? Do you have her passport.
Kenny Kang: Yes, why?
Troop Edmonds: We want it. Mister Kang has her passport. So we need to get that. Like now. You know what a passport is?
Kenny Kang: Yes.
Troop Edmonds: I'm sure you do. We want it.
Kenny Kang: I'll talk to...
Troop Edmonds: No you're talking to me.
Ishmael: The passport I will...
Troop Edmonds: ...get it. OK.
Ishmael: I will get it. Not you.
Troop Edmonds: OK.

Chris Hansen: You were mad.
Troop Edmonds: Oh, I was really mad. And then when I looked in his eyes I saw this horrible thing. It was like-- not a chance am I going to give you the passport. It's like, "She's my property. And she's leaving this police station with me."

Although there's no evidence money changed hands, Lannie's frustrated rescuers start to suspect the worst: that the police are in Kang's pocket.

Troop Edmonds: He paid that other bastard off! That's why he wanted back in there. He did not want to hand over the passport. He paid off that other guy.
Jerry Howe: We need to get the passport and get out of here.

Chris Hansen: Was there a point when you started to think, "Maybe we're not going to get this resolved, even here at the police department?"
Jerry Howe: When the incident happened with the passport, I was very worried at that point that we were all going to (laughter) end up in jail. And--
Chris Hansen: The whole group?
Jerry Howe: The whole (laughter) group of us, yeah.

And just when it seemed things couldn't get any stranger, in walks a man who describes himself as Kenny Kang's business partner, a gynecologist named Ng Kok Kwang.

Ng: I'm Dr. Ng.
Edmonds: Dr. Ng? Dr. Ng, a doctor?
Ng: Yeah.

The doctor says he has a side business supplying singers to work at various hotels and he insists he's not engaged in human trafficking.

Dr. Ng: I'm a professional, ok? I do not want to do any illegal things in terms of this, because that's going to affect my business. I'm making…
Troop Edmonds: Wait a minute, wait a minute, what are you talking about?
Dr. Ng: No no no, I'm just telling you I do not know why this all happen, this all have happened. We have never kidnapped her, I just want to make it clear to you.

Dr. Ng: We never hold them as prisoners, please
Jerry Howe: If you have their passports, they're prisoners.
Dr. Ng: No no, it's not like that, if they want to come to us and tell us they want to go home, they go home.

That's what he claims. But then he pulls something straight out of the human trafficking playbook, arguing that before Lannie and the others can go free they must first reimburse him for the money he says he spent transporting, housing and training them.

Dr. Ng: According to the contract they have signed, they have to pay 200,000…

That translates to nearly $60,000 -- a sum so high it would take the average Filipino at least 20 years to pay it off.

We asked to see that eight year contract Dr. Ng keeps talking about.

Dr. Ng: This is the contract we have with them. Oh, no, no. It's "P and C." Sorry. We can't give you a copy. It's private and confidential … If you want any document, I think I must discuss with my partner. I can't just release it like that all right?

Contract or no contract, Jerry and Troop make it clear they aren't about to give in.

Jerry Howe: Well, since you made a mistake and illegally recruited them, we'll just go, we'll just need to pick up her papers and leave and get out the police.
Dr. Ng: OK, OK, please, please, please, I have enough headache, too, OK. I do not want to…
Jerry Howe: You're busy, we're busy, we want to go home.

Finally, convinced Troop and Jerry mean business, Dr. Ng calls it a day. Lannie is free to leave with her passport.

Also free to leave: Dr. Ng and his cohort Kenny Kang.

The police let them walk.

Chris Hansen: Now, you were out of the police station. But you were not out of the country.
Jerry Howe: That's true. And as much as I really wanted to go find the other girls, we felt that it was probably better to get her out before whatever organization Kang was associated with would come looking for us.
Chris Hansen: You weren't wasting any time?
Jerry Howe: No. No. Once we decided to go, we left in a hurry, yeah.

But they weren't home free. They still had to get out of Malaysia, steering clear of angry human traffickers and government officials who seemed to treat the traffickers with kid gloves.

They wouldn't be safe until they reached the Philippines. But would they finally get the whole story from Lannie?

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