PDEA: Drug rings now target foreign exchange students as couriers

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is warning the public on the new modus operandi drug syndicates now use in recruiting drug mules. In a report over radio dzBB, Benjie Liwanag said that PDEA Director General Jose Gutierrez Jr. discovered that international drug syndicates, including the West African Drug Syndicate (WADS), now recruit foreign exchange students as couriers of illegal drugs. Aside from being young, exchange students are a perfect pick as drug couriers because they are easily lured by the big money drug rings offer, according to Gutierrez.

Drug syndicates often hire Overseas Filipino Workers as drug couriers, who transport drugs and other illegal substances to different countries. On March 30, three convicted Filipino drug couriers were executed in China. Two of the convicted Filipinos, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva and Ramon Credo, were subjected to lethal injections in Xiamen. The third Filipino, Elizabeth Batain, was executed in Shenzhen. Just last week, PDEA operatives arrested two suspected members of WADS in a buy-bust operation in Quezon City. On April 19, two other suspected members of WADS were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation. That same day, Vice President Jejomar Binay praised the agency for scoring in the fight against illegal drugs. — Karlitos Brian Decena/RSJ, GMA News