Malaysian 'courier' nabbed with P15-M shabu

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has arrested a Malaysian suspected of being a drug courier for a West African Drug Syndicate (WADS) and confiscated 2.5 kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride he was supposed to smuggle out of the country, an official said yesterday.

NBI officer-in-charge Nonnatus Caesar Rojas said Bing Sye Poh, 37, a resident of Kuala Lumpur, was charged for transporting illegal drugs (Section 5, Article 2 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act) before the Pasay prosecutor’s office.

An investigation done by the NBI’s Reaction, Arrest and Interdiction Division, headed by Ross Jonathan Galicia, led to the discovery of a WADS cell using Vietnamese, Malaysians and Filipinos to smuggle the drug, locally known as shabu, from Africa to the Philippines.

The cell uses different nationalities to deliver or pick up shabu to mislead authorities, the NBI said.

Poh’s arrest stemmed from a tip received by the NBI that the syndicate smuggled into the country an undetermined amount of cocaine and shabu on March 23.

According to the tip, Poh was sent by the syndicate to the Philippines. He arrived at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport and was billeted at the Crosswinds Asian Hotel in Parañaque City.

At noon on March 23, NBI agents monitored Poh check in at the hotel, then leave and board a taxi without any luggage. Poh got off at the corner of Gil Puyat and Harrison street and entered a private compound, the NBI said.

Minutes later, Poh came out carrying a piece of luggage. He boarded a passing taxi, driven by an undercover NBI agent. He told the driver to proceed to the hotel, but he was intercepted by NBI agents, who seized the luggage he carried, which contained 2.5 kilos of shabu with a street value of P15 million.

Poh claimed he was only requested by a friend, another Malaysian, to come to the Philippines and pick up the luggage from a certain person codenamed “666” and bring it to Malaysia, where he would be paid $1,500.