Group warns traveling OFWs vs illegal ‘padala’

The Middle East chapter of a migrants’ rights group on Monday warned returning overseas Filipino workers (OFW) against accepting padala or care packages. The term padala literally means consignment, in the form of money or goods. In the context of Filipino migration, it has become a tradition among OFWs to send packages of goods to relatives here in the Philippines. At times, the OFWs’ relatives here ask other OFWs returning to the host countries to carry a package to a family member working there, to save on shipping costs. Similarly, workers ask their fellow OFWs returning here to bring items to the families they left behind. More recently, however, OFWs have become unsuspecting drug couriers falling prey to syndicates, mostly from West African countries, which ask them to bring packages to their destination countries, unaware that these contain contraband or other illegal items. Migrante-Middle East thus reminded OFWs to refuse padala from strangers or even friends without checking the content of the package. “We are asking our fellow OFWs, especially those returning abroad, to refrain from accepting ‘padala’ especially if they have not checked and verified what the luggage, bags and similar items contain," said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante regional coordinator. Drugs in bags, shoes, clothes Monterona said they have already received two reports of OFWs carrying items which were later found to be containing illegal drugs. The OFWs involved are now in jail facing prosecution after being apprehended by the host country’s immigration police. “This tactic has become the modus operandi of unscrupulous individuals, often connected with drug syndicates, victimizing innocent OFWs," Monterona added. Based on previous reports, drugs can be tucked inside the OFW’s luggage or in a separate bag. (See: 'Kindness' makes Pinays vulnerable to drug rings) These illegal substances can also be hidden inside the soles of slippers, or stuffed into fabric buttons of clothes. T-shirts can also be immersed in liquefied illegal drugs and dried before delivery. Stuffed, sewn into Pinoys’ bodies Some syndicates, however, have figured other more dangerous ways of smuggling prohibited substances: stuffing and sewing drugs inside the bodies of Filipino travelers. (See: Syndicates sneak, tuck, sew drugs into Pinoys) A Filipina, for example, was arrested in 2008 for carrying the substance in a condom tucked inside her genitals. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency also said there have been cases of these illegal substances being sewn inside the Filipino drug mules’ abdominal cavity, which would then be reopened upon arrival at the destination country to retrieve the drugs. More recently, the National Bureau of Investigation arrested four members of a Western African drug ring who tried to recruit three Filipinos as drug couriers by making them ingest capsules containing drugs. (See: 3 Filipino would-be drug mules rescued in Pampanga) Lax security in RP airports Victims reported being offered payment ranging from $500 to $2,500 (about P23,062-P115,311) for transporting the substance. The usual destinations are China and its territories, Hong Kong and Macau, where trafficking of at least 50 grams of prohibited drugs such as heroin is punishable by death. Monterona also scored immigration authorities in Philippine airports for what he said are lax security measures, thereby allowing drug couriers to leave the country with their smuggling activities undetected. These Filipino drug mules, he said, end up being nabbed in the destination countries which have special X-ray machines that could scan suspicious objects even if hidden inside a person’s body. Monterona is thus urging the Philippine posts in the Middle East to issue a formal advisory to the Filipino communities in the region against carelessly taking padala. “The government must take these incidents seriously and end this vicious practice of preying on OFWs, who are pushed into doing these illegal and dangerous activities because of poverty and lack of job opportunities," he said.—Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV