Mexican drug cartel operating in Mindanao, says Zamboanga police chief
ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A Mexican drug cartel has teamed up with local drug syndicates to smuggle drugs to neighboring Malaysia via the so-called southern backdoor, Zamboanga’s acting chief of police, Senior Superintendent Angelito Casimiro, said Tuesday.
Casimiro said the ties between the Mexican drug cartel, which he did not identify, and the so-called East Asia drug syndicate, which sends shabu or metamphetamine hydrochloride to Malaysia via this city, was uncovered following the arrest of a former Western Mindanao policeman in Metro Manila several days ago.
All indications point to Pon Mohamad Mansul as the conduit between the drug syndicates, Casimiro said, adding Mansul was probably responsible also for the shipments of large amounts of shabu to Malaysia through this city. Mansul was arrested in Las Piñas.
A series of drug busts here started last November, when some P100-million worth of shabu was intercepted at the Zamboanga International Airport. The two suspects who were arrested, both Tawi-Tawi residents, were to have proceeded to Malaysia using the Tawi-Tawi sea route.
On March 6, authorities made a sixth seizure with the interception of some P5 million worth of shabu inside the airport, which was sent from Metro Manila via a courier.
“Drug trafficking is really big money and with the coming in of cartels from as far as Mexico, we’re seeing kilos and kilos of drugs being intercepted at the Zamboanga International Airport going to Tawi-Tawi,” Casimiro said.
Casimiro said Mansul had extensive contacts and ran the illegal drugs trade here as well as in the nearby areas of Sulu, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi.
Based on police records, Mansul was also involved in an attempt to bribe a police officer for the benefit of another alleged big-time drug pusher, who faces drug charges.
Two of Mansul’s alleged associates, Zamboanga deputy prosecutor Roselyn Murillo-Mamon and lawyer Pherham Surian Saiddi, were arrested as they were handing over a P200,00 bribe to a police officer so he would not testify at a hearing of charges against another alleged pusher.
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