Manila: Ten more people have filed complaints against a Filipina arrested in the case of Mary Jane Veloso, the woman facing execution in Indonesia for smuggling drugs.
Philippine authorities arrested Maria Cristina Sergio for allegedly duping compatriot Veloso into trafficking drugs. Veloso was convicted in 2010, but given a reprieve from execution by Indonesian President Joko Widodo last month after Sergio’s arrest.
“Ten people have given sworn statements to the National Bureau of Investigation saying that Maria Cristina Sergio lured them to be drug pushers,” Basset Sarip, executive officer of NBI’s anti human trafficking division, told Gulf News.
“We went to their homes to get their sworn statements after we received calls and letters from them,” said Sarip, adding that some of the victims were residents of Cabanatuan, northern Luzon, the hometown of Veloso.
“The complainants said that Sergio brought them to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. From there, they were told to travel alone either to China, or Hong Kong or Indonesia as a drug mule or a transporter,” Sarip said, adding that one of the complainants was the sister of an OFW who was brought by Sergio to Thailand.
The OFW travelled alone to Hong Kong where she was arrested for carrying 800 grams of heroin in 2010. The OFW, whose name was not identified, is scheduled for release in 2017.
In the same manner, Sergio brought Veloso to Malaysia, ostensibly for a job, only to claim that the potential employer had hired somebody else. Sergio then sent Veloso to Indonesia with a suitcase secretly stuffed with 2.6kg of heroin, which resulted in her arrest at the Yogyakarta Airport in 2010.
“We have leads showing that Sergio could be part of a West African drug syndicate,” Sarip said, adding that 10 other human trafficking and illegal recruitment charges would be filed against Sergio and her live-in partner Sergio Lacanilao at the Justice Department.
The NBI and the Justice Department had already filed a complaint of illegal recruitment against Sergio and Lacanilao based on the sworn statement given by Veloso to the NBI agents who visited her in prison in Yogyakarta last March.
Veloso’s mother Celia identified Sergio and Lacanilao during the latter’s inquest at the NBI office last Tuesday. Their preliminary investigation at the justice department was scheduled on May 8 and 14.
Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima created a 20-man task force to handle the investigation and prosecution of cases filed against Sergio and Lacanilao, in relation to the complaints filed by Veloso.
There are 10 million OFWS based worldwide. Some 3,800 OFWs are jailed abroad, 92 of whom were sentenced to death due to murder and drug-related cases. “One was convicted for espionage,” said Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Jesus Yabes.
