Int’l drug traffickers victimizing women

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY – Here is fair warning to Cordillera women or any woman for that this matter. This is no racist statement, but if a black man, who looks like he came from Africa tries to get into your good graces and woos you, better think twice.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency – Cordillera strongly has warned the public against African drug syndicates (ADS), following notification from its national office, about the emerging modus operandi of these groups in recruiting and utilizing drug couriers or mules.

           

The prevalent modus operandi of the ADS is to make a Filipina his girlfriend, who, subsequently, will be the one to recruit fellow Filipinos to become drug mules and usually recruited are those tourist-visa holders, Ronald Allan DG. Ricardo, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director of the Cordillera revealed.

           

PDEA Director General, Undersecretary Jose S. Gutierrez Jr. earlier said, in the national level, their agency had noted a rising trend in involvement of Asians in international drug trafficking. He said because of profiling done on ADS members, PDEA found out that the ADS shifted to employing Asians as drug couriers.

           

Monitoring made by the agency revealed an emerging trend; syndicate members enroll as  foreign exchange students, court local female students and turn them later into drug mules.

           

These illegal drug syndicates reportedly engage in travel and tour businesses or agencies to arrange airline and hotel bookings and use fraudulent documents to recruit drug couriers more easily.

           

PDEA records also show that syndicate members have recently been recruiting poor African women, positive with HIV/AIDS or other contagious diseases so that if arrested, these infected drug mules will not be detained in jails, because authorities will opt to deport the disease-infected couriers rather than lock them up, to prevent contamination and spread of such diseases.

           

A tactic used by these syndicates includes spotting or meeting prospective drug mules through the internet and social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and Tagged; befriending or marrying the potential recruit then turning him/her into a cohort; recruiting through casual acquaintances in key cities here or abroad; posing as tourists; providing plane tickets and hotel accommodations for the courier and offering up to $15,000 for every successful transaction, depending on the amount of drugs to be delivered or the route to be traveled.

           

Drug mules hide their illegal cargo in secret compartments of their suitcase, shoes, books or clothes they are wearing; or place them in the bottom part of luggage, inside handbag, in shoeboxes, bottles, parcels.

           

Others reportedly wrap the drugs around their body, or undergominor surgery just to put the drugs inside their body or ingesting the dangerous drugs to avoid detection.

           

It is often done by swallowing latex condoms or fingers of latex gloves containing the drugs. Later, the package is recovered from the feces. ‘Swallowers’ can transport around five hundred to nine hundred grams of drugs.

           

In extreme cases, female drug couriers are forced to insert the package into their vagina while male drug mules are instructed to insert the drugs directly into their anus. These methods are common but dangerous way of smuggling small amounts of drugs and a courier can die if a drug packet bursts or leaks before exiting the body.

           

In some instances, unwitting victims are reportedly duped by acquaintances into carrying packages, not knowing that drugs were placed inside.

           

The PDEA has warned the public to keep themselves from falling into the hands of these syndicates or from becoming drug mules. Be wary of people offering easy money for work abroad especially when you are unsure of the nature of the job.

           

Check if your recruiter or recruitment agency's papers and documents are legal. Avoid bringing other people's luggage or packages especially when you do not know what is contained inside, even when they are offering money.

           

Authorities offered these tips if you are a victim of these syndicates: When recruited as drug courier, seek help and report immediately illegal drug activities to authorities like the PDEA, the Philippine National Police or the National Bureau of Investigation.

           

For Filipinos abroad, they can go to the Philippine Embassy in the country where they are staying. The embassy will then coordinate with the authorities in the host country for necessary actions. If the drug mule's travel documents are with the drug syndicate, the embassy may facilitate the victim’s return to the country provided his or her family will shoulder airfare or travel expenses.

           

Authorities said over the years, the emerging trend in transporting illegal drugs using drug couriers has become a worldwide concern because it poses serious threats to health, violates human rights, and cultivates illegal activities and other crimes such as human trafficking, prostitution and cyber crimes.

           

Cases of illegal drug trafficking involving the syndicates and drug mules have reportedly endangered lives of many Filipinos.