Kenyan charged for drug possession, smuggling

CEBU City—The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) filed charges against a Kenyan woman who was arrested at the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) on Thursday night for allegedly bringing in three kilos of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) worth about P15 million.

Asha Atieno Ogutu, 24, was brought to the NBI Central Visayas office here and to the Lapu-lapu City Prosecutor’s Office on Friday for inquest proceedings.

Ogutu maintained that she was in the Philippines for a vacation and that she was unaware that the luggage given to her by a certain “Joshua” contained shabu. “I didn’t know that they put something in the luggage,” she told reporters in a press conference at the NBI office.

Ogutu arrived at the MCIA at past 4 p.m. from Doha, Qatar, on board Qatar Airways Flight 656.

“Vacation? I don’t think so, the way I see her, she is a typical drug mule,” said Lauro Reyes, assistant NBI regional director.

On Thursday, the NBI was informed by the Manila-based Reaction Arrest and Interdiction Division (RAID) Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force that a Kenyan named Asha Atieno Ogutu was reportedly among the passengers on board the incoming Qatar Airways Flight 656 from Doha.

Edward Villarta, NBI regional director, immediately coordinated with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), airport police and the Bureau of Customs.

Upon disembarking from the plane, Ogutu was held at the airport’s arrival area while three K9 dogs sniffed her luggage. NBI agents found a false bottom containing two large packs of shabu when they inspected the luggage in the presence of representatives from the Department of Justice, journalists and barangay officials.

Ogutu was charged with violation of the Comprehensive Drugs Act of 2002 at the Office of City Prosecutor Evageline S. Gicale.