MANILA, Philippines - A Filipina was arrested after she was caught with three kilos of shabu at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, according to a report on GMA News Online yesterday.
The report, which quoted Malaysia’s The Star Online, said the woman, 39, was paid 5,000 Malaysian ringgit (RM) or P69,241.
“This was her first time (smuggling). Such syndicates would usually use new people. Drug mules here on average are paid about RM5,000 per job – but please, it is not worth it,” the report quoted Bukit Aman Narcotics director Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim.
The Filipina faces the death penalty if found guilty.
The Star Online report said police, acting on a tip from international intelligence agencies, arrested the Filipina as she disembarked from a plane from New Delhi at 7:35 a.m. Thursday.
Five plastic packets of shabu worth RM620,000 (P8.586 million) were found hidden in the suspect’s layer of clothes and undergarments. A total of RM2,056 (P28,472) in different currencies were also seized from her.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said they are still awaiting a report from the Philippine embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
“Our embassy will extend all necessary and appropriate assistance – consular and legal,” he said in a text message.
Death convicts in Vietnam
The DFA also assured the public that they would extend all the necessary assistance to two Filipinos sentenced to death in Vietnam for smuggling cocaine.
An Agence France Presse report identified the two as Emmanuel Sillo Camacho and Donna Buenagua Mazon, both 39 years old.
The Law and Society newspaper in Vietnam said Camacho was convicted of trafficking 3.4 kilograms of cocaine from Brazil to Vietnam.
Camacho was arrested in December last year when officials at Hanoi’s Noi Bai international airport found the drugs in his luggage.
The newspaper quoted Camacho as telling the court that he transported the drug for a Filipina living in Brazil after she promised to find him a job with monthly salary of up to $1,500 in the South American country.
Mazon was sentenced to death by a court in southern Ho Chi Minh City earlier this month, after being caught with 1.5 kilograms of cocaine in December 2013.
787 on death row
The DFA said there are 787 Filipinos facing drug related cases worldwide as of July.
Most of the drug-related charges involving Filipinos are in Asia with 343 cases, including the 220 (59 males, 161 females) cases in China.
There are 116 cases in the Americas, 104 in Europe, and 244 in the Middle East and Africa.
The government reiterated its call on the public to remain vigilant of the modus operandi of drug syndicates in recruiting drug mules.
In an interview over dzRB, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte appealed to Filipinos abroad not to carry baggage for strangers in exchange for money.