A Kenyan woman belonging to a drug syndicate and her Filipina cohort known to be a recruiter of drug couriers in Manila were caught in an entrapment operation conducted by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents on Wednesday.
PDEA Director General Jose S. Gutierrez Jr. identified those arrested as Elizabeth Runana Nyamdura and Maria Grace Navarro Lacson, alias Gina Lacson, a recruiter from Concepcion, Tarlac.
Operatives of the PDEA Special Enforcement Service caught them in the act of turning over packages containing 4.5 kilos of “shabu,” or methamphetamine hydrochloride, to a PDEA agent and an informant in a hostel in Malate, Manila.
The drugs, which had an estimated value of P24 million, were in four vacuum-sealed transparent plastic wrapped in aluminum foil, Gutierrez said.
According to him, Nyamdura, who transported the item from Ethiopia to the Philippines, had contacted Lacson to recruit couriers who were to deliver the illegal drugs to Malaysia.
Unknown to both of them, Lacson had tapped an undercover PDEA agent and an informant who were posing as new recruits.
Lacson had been under the surveillance of PDEA for months, according to PDEA. She was said to be responsible for recruiting other Filipino drug couriers as early as 2007, including Melanie Pangan Mañalac, who was arrested in Guangzhou, China, in May 2008.
Mañalac was in Macau when Lacson introduced her to her Nigerian boyfriend who asked Mañalac to bring “packages” to China.
Mañalac was then instructed to swallow 88 grams of heroin hidden in 100 capsules so that she could transport these to China. However, she was able to swallow only 10 capsules and threw away the remaining 90 capsules.
Arrested in China, Mañalac was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and is still languishing in a jail there. Negotiations are underway between the Philippines and the Chinese government for her deportation next year.