Manila: Alberto Quijano Pedraza could have passed off for an ordinary passenger when he arrived in Manila on November 14.
The 67-year-old Colombian did not stand out from the crowd of arriving passengers and there was nothing about his appearance that could indicate that he was a drug mule.
Yet he is one and agents from the Philippines’ Bureau of Immigrations are bent on proving it.
Following a tip from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Philippine immigration agents quickly moved to segregate him upon arrival.
They took him to the Pasay City General Hospital where he was given laxatives to force him to discharge some P9 million (Dh657,864) worth of cocaine he had hidden inside 79 balloons — stuffed into his rectum.
A ruptured package could have cost him his life yet, like many other smugglers, Pedraza, wary of the danger, attempted to smuggle the contraband.
Immigrations Commissioner Jaime Morente said the arrest of Pedraza could not have been possible without the cooperation of local operatives and the DHS.
“When he arrived some minutes after 4pm and presented himself at the immigration counter BI operatives immediately informed other members of the task group that the subject has been positively identified and tagged,” Morente said, referring to the Bureau of Immigration.
With tightening local supply of narcotics and illegal substances, syndicates are now resorting to smuggling drugs from abroad.
In 2016, a total of 112 foreigners were arrested in the Philippines for smuggling drugs. “Foreign nationals arrested for drug-related offences nationwide more than doubled to 79 six months into the government’s war against drugs,” then Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Isidro Lapeña said.
Lapeña had since been transferred to the Bureau of Customs.
Among the foreigners apprehended, Chinese nationals top the list with 44, followed by Taiwanese at 29, and seven Hong Kong nationals and seven Koreans. The rest are other nationalities.
The anti-drugs campaign is one of the pillars of the social reform agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte.
When he was campaigning for the presidency, Duterte promised not to show mercy to criminals engaged in drugs. “They are the scourge of our society, they kill our children,” he said.
Duterte’s tirades against drug criminals and suspects strike a sympathetic chord that Filipinos can easily identify with. A large number of Filipino families confront the reality of having a family member who is addicted to drugs.
Despite being depicted by local and international press as a murderous thug, Duterte continues to enjoy strong support from Filipinos.
