Task force busts intl drug ring, rescues Filipino woman

The country’s anti-drug smuggling task force arrested members of an international drug syndicate and in the process rescued a Filipina about to become an unwitting ‘drug mule.’ The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), along with members of the inter-agency Task Force on Drug Couriers (TFDC), arrested at least 13 members of an international drug trafficking organization, PDEA Director General Dionisio Santiago said in a briefing Thursday. In a two-week operation, dubbed “Homerun," which started March 17 in China, Santiago said those arrested were nine Nigerian men, a Thai woman, a Malaysian woman and two Filipino women, all members of a syndicate operating in Thailand, Malaysia, China and the Philippines. About two kilograms of cocaine and a kilogram of heroin were also seized, the agency said. A Filipina, whose name was withheld by the task force, was supposed to transport illicit drugs, was also rescued and returned to her family in the Philippines. More Filipinos facing drug charges The rise in the number of Filipinos involved in drug smuggling mostly in Asia has prompted the government to create the TFDC on Feb. 8. Overseas-bound Filipinos have fallen prey to drug syndicates recruiting couriers, also known as mules, to transport illegal drugs inside their luggage or shoes or fabric buttons. (See: ‘Kindness’ makes Pinays vulnerable to drug rings) Some syndicates have come up with other more dangerous ways of smuggling prohibited substances, like stuffing drugs inside the bodies of Filipino couriers. (See: Syndicates sneak, tuck, sew drugs into Pinoys) “The Philippines is undertaking comprehensive and proactive measures to address the ‘drug mules’ issue and prevent the further victimization of Filipinos by international drug syndicates," Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) undersecretary for migrant workers affairs Esteban Conejos Jr. said in a separate statement. The task force is composed of PDEA, DFA, Department of Labor and Employment, Immigration and Customs bureaus and the Philippine Tourism Authority. It works with counterpart agencies in other countries in regional actions against the recruitment of Filipinos as drug mules. “We warn our countrymen not to accept packages which they suspect are drugs. If they are caught carrying illegal drugs, they will face dire circumstances," Conejos said. In China, possession of 50 grams of illicit drugs is considered trafficking and is punishable by at least fifteen years in prison, life imprisonment or death. In Muslim countries, drug trafficking is punishable by death based on the Shariah law. According to the DFA, there are 197drug-related cases involving Filipinos in China, with six facing the death penalty without reprieve and 67 with death penalty with a two-year reprieve. Also, 35 cases involve life imprisonment sentences, 56 are fixed-term imprisonments and 33 are pending cases. From 2006 to 2008, Conejos said the number of Filipinos facing drug-related charges in China increased from eight to 138. In 2009, 39 cases were recorded and only three for the first quarter of 2010. ‘Syndicates must be prosecuted, punished’ In an interview with GMANews.TV, a migrants’ rights group welcomed the government’s progress in curbing cases of drug smuggling, but added that prosecution and punishment of the smugglers must be ensured. “Dapat magkaroon ng resulta kasi sayang ang pondo ng task force. Sana rin may maparusahang mga sindikato, kasi laging ‘yung OFWs lang ang napaparusahan (The task force should produce results because its funds would otherwise just go to waste. Also, we hope the syndicates would be punished instead of just the OFWs.)," said Migrante International chair Garry Martinez. He cited the case of Edmar Aquino, an OFW who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Iran for attempting to smuggle drugs to Thailand. According to Martinez, Aquino was made to bring a luggage supposedly containing undergarments, but was discovered by Iranian authorities at airport to contain illicit drugs. —VS, GMANews.TV