Recruiters of drug couriers watched

BATANGAS CITY—Anti-narcotics agents are closely monitoring foreigners who are recruiting Filipinos, specifically Batangueños, to act as drug couriers to other countries, an official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said.

Emerson Margate, director of PDEA in the Calabarzon region, said Filipinos are being targeted as couriers because of their proficiency in English and other languages.

Filipinos also know how to use the computer and the Internet, and have a positive disposition that make them vulnerable to become couriers, he said.

“Their unassuming behavior makes them less prone to questioning by police or airport authorities,” he added.

Recruitment incidences

Margate said although there have been no recorded cases yet of drug courier activities in Batangas, he said PDEA cannot afford to relax its guard.

He said recruitment incidences have been recorded in Abra, Isabela, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Ifugao, Bulacan, the National Capital Region, Cavite, Oriental Mindoro, Iloilo, Davao and Zamboanga.

“Filipinos are attracted into becoming drug couriers because of poverty, poor educational background, easy money, unemployment and the idea of traveling,” said Margate.

He said syndicate members, usually fellow Filipino women connected to drug syndicates like the African Drug Syndicate, recruit through casual acquaintances or through the Internet. Unwitting victims are duped by acquaintances into carrying packages en route to destinations.

86 death penalty cases

Margate added syndicate members befriend or marry potential recruits then later turn them into couriers or cohorts.

“Another way is to engage in the travel and tours business, and use fraudulent documents to entice couriers,” said Margate.

He said each year 10 to 50 Filipinos are recruited as drug couriers by the syndicates.

As of April 2011, there have been 86 drug-related death penalty cases involving Filipinos abroad: 76 in China, eight in Malaysia, one in Saudi Arabia and one in Indonesia.

From 1993 until June 2011, the number of arrested Filipino drug couriers increased from 2 to 692, he added.

He said the types of drugs trafficked included heroin, shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride), cocaine and marijuana.