PDEA-DFA task force busts international drug ring

MANILA, Philippines - An inter-agency task force neutralized an international drug ring that employs Filipinos as drug couriers or “mules” in other countries, officials said yesterday.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Dionisio Santiago and Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary Esteban Conejos Jr., both co-chairing the Task Force on Drug Couriers, made the announcement in a joint press conference yesterday.

Maj. Ferdinand Marcelino of the PDEA’s Special Enforcement Services said they and their counterparts in other countries arrested nine Nigerian men and four women – two Filipinas, a Thai and a Malaysian – who are allegedly members of a cell operating in Thailand, Malaysia, China and the Philippines.

He said they seized two kilos of cocaine and a kilo of heroin in China.

Marcelino said the operation also led to the rescue of a Filipina, who has since been returned to her family in the Philippines.

Santiago said “Operation Homerun emphasizes the importance of multilateral coordination and collaboration of resources among locals and their foreign counterparts in view of the borderless nature of the operations and the network of international drug trafficking organizations.”

He and Conejos warned Filipino travelers, whether overseas workers or tourists, to be wary about accepting packages from strangers.

They said in China, trafficking of at least 50 grams of illegal drugs is punishable by 15 years in prison, life imprisonment or death. In Muslim countries, drug trafficking is punishable by death.

Conejos said there are nearly 200 Filipinos languishing in China’s jails for drug offenses. He said as of May 5, there were already six Filipinos sentenced to death without reprieve, 67 sentenced to death with two years’ reprieve (on good behavior), 35 sentenced to death but commuted to life imprisonment, 56 sentenced to 15 years and three still on trial.

He said these Filipinos are jailed in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chongqing and Hong Kong.