Syndicates sneak, tuck, sew drugs into Pinoys

MANILA, Philippines - Drug syndicates have found ingenious ways of smuggling thousands of dollars worth of prohibited substances: stuffing and sewing drugs inside the bodies of willing Filipino travelers. With the advent of high-tech equipment capable of prying into the thickest luggage, Derrick Carreon, spokesperson of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) revealed that drug syndicates, mostly from West African countries, employ various methods to sneak drugs inside Filipino “drug mules." One of the most common ways of smuggling drugs through human “mules" is by making them swallow plastic capsules containing several kilograms of the illegal narcotics. Others have died using this method. “They often forget these things are poisonous," Carreon told GMANews.TV in an interview. Last year, the PDEA interviewed an arrested Filipina who hid the prohibited substance inside a condom that was tucked inside her genitals. Airport authorities who noticed that she showed signs of discomfort during her travel inspected and found what she was carrying. But perhaps the newest modus operandi of these drug gangs is “conveniently" sewing drugs inside the Filipino mules’ “abdominal cavity." Carreon said that the drugs are packed then sewn inside the “mules" prior to their departure. Upon arriving in their destination country, the abdominal cavity is re-opened to retrieve the hidden drugs. But the PDEA official said that other airports overseas have installed special X-ray machines that could scan suspicious objects being smuggled into their country, even if these are hidden inside a person’s body. “They often think they’ve escaped scot-free when they leave [Manila] but they don’t realize that other airports have more advanced X-rays," Carreon said. More women drug mules As of February this year, 16 Filipinos have been arrested in China on drug trafficking charges, raising alarm bells at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The DFA said that in 2008 alone, 111 Filipinos – almost all of them women – were arrested for drug-related offenses in China, Hong Kong, and Macau. This was a 594-percent increase compared to the 16 Filipinos arrested in 2007. Of those arrested in 2007 and 2008, 22 have been sentenced to death, 12 were meted out life sentences, while 11 received prison sentences of 15-16 years. When a neighbor offered 33-year-old Glory Santos work in China last year, the single mother did not flinch. Determined to provide her five-year-old daughter a better life, she flew to China as a tourist and looked for a job there for two months. But after failing to land a job and incurring a P20,000 debt in the process, Glory was lured to meet a Nigerian friend who asked her to transport more than P2-million worth of heroin inside her luggage in exchange for US$2,000. In one of her routine trips in October 2007, Glory was intercepted by airport police. She was arrested, jailed, tried and eventually pleaded guilty to drug trafficking. She is now facing 13 years in a Chinese prison. Just last Tuesday, 48-year-old Milagros Nolasco was detained after customs authorities in Tajikistan for attempting to smuggle more than three kilograms of heroin stuffed into fabric buttons to Turkey. A customs agent said in the report that the woman had stuffed the drugs into 758 fabric buttons that were stitched onto 33 Tajik national robes. According to the DFA, Filipinas who are desperately in need of money to provide for their families could become easy prey to drug syndicates. Filipino drug couriers usually receive between $200 to $400 for carrying the prohibited drugs in their luggage. - GMANews.TV