IMMIGRATION is installing cell phone jamming machines to stop corrupt agents from human trafficking or shaking down people at the international airport, an official said yesterday.

Twelve units of cell phone dampers and cell phone jammers would be installed in all three terminals to boost a rule banning agents from using their cell phones while on duty, Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan said.

The jammers will only be effective at a radius of 40 feet from the Immigration counters, allowing passengers to use their cell phones after leaving the area.

But the machines would prevent Immigration officials from disrupting passenger processing at the counters, and passengers from wasting Immigration agents’ time, Libanan said.

Critics claim some Immigration staff use their cell phones to communicate with people escorting departing passengers to facilitate their processing.

“[The use of cell phones by Immigration officers while on duty] gives the public the impression that they are contact persons of those seeking irregular facilitation,” airport operations chief Ferdinand Sampol said.