PNP maintains Mexican drug cartel operates in PH

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—After the Mexican Ambassador to the Philippines questioned the existence of an international drug cartel in the country, the Philippine National Police anti-illegal drugs body said it has pieces of evidence proving that the notorious Mexican Sinaloa drug syndicate is operating here.

In an earlier INQUIRER.net report, Ambassador Julio Camarena Villaseñor expressed doubts on the operation of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel, saying no Mexican has ever been arrested in the Philippines to verify the possibility of its presence in the country.

“I do not understand why there is such as claim at this stage. There are Filipinos, Canadians, US nationals, and Chinese, but no Mexican has yet been detained,” Villaseñor said.

He emphasized that “no nationality should be tied to this event,” arguing that drug cartels are international organized crime working from different parts of the world.

But Chief Inspector Roque Merdegia Jr., spokesperson of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force, said in a text message to INQUIRER.net that although the suspects are still at large, the PNP AIDSOTF has their passports indicating that they are from Sinaloa, Mexico.

In December last year, the PNP AIDSOTF conducted a major drug raid in Lipa ranch in Batangas that yielded 84 kilos of shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride worth P420 million.

During the operation, the police arrested a Filipino couple identified as Argay and Rochelle Argenos and a Chinese-Filipino named Gary Tan after weeks of intelligence operations by the AIDSOTF, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and US antinarcotics personnel.

Merdegia said Senior Superintendent Bartolome Tobias, PNP AIDSOTF chief, believes that the detention of a Mexican or Mexicans should not only be made as basis that the Sinaloa cartel is or is not operating in the country.

“We have evidence on money transfers made to banks in Sinaloa, Mexico and we have filed a case against the Mexicans whose passports indicate that they are born in Sinaloa,” Tobias said.

Merdegia also quoted the AIDSOTF chief as saying: “Aside from these, the pieces of information we have point to the Sinaloa cartel.  We would like to express our gratitude to His Excellency (Villaseñor) for his support… His Excellency is entitled to his opinion and we respect it.”

Believed to be operating in 50 countries, the infamous drug cartel is deemed as the biggest supplier of heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana in the world.

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