Filipino with 6.145 kilos of cocaine nabbed in Peru

MANILA, Philippines—A 35-year-old Filipino trying to smuggle in 6.145 kilos of cocaine alkaloid was caught in Cusco, Peru on September 30, the Philippine embassy in Santiago said.

In a statement released through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippine Ambassador to Chile (with jurisdiction in Peru) Maria Consuelo Puyat-Reyes said this most apprehension followed the separate arrests of a Filipina on June 2 in Arica, Chile, and of another Filipina on May 24 in Ecuador, on the same charges of drug trafficking.

“These are seemingly more daring and brazen attempts by drug syndicates in the region to use Filipinos to transport banned substances across international borders,” the ambassador said, describing the use of Filipino drug mules in South America as “especially alarming.”

The newest arrest was made at the Alejandro Velasco Astete Airport, where the suspect had the illegal drugs on both his person and his hand-carry baggage. The suspect, whom the embassy did not name for privacy reasons, was headed for Lima, Peru and to other intermediary points, with Hanoi, Vietnam as the alleged final destination.

The suspected Filipino drug trafficker is now in jail at the Quencoro Men’s Penitentiary at Cusco, where he will begin a prison sentence of six years and eight months, including payment of fines, after accepting a plea bargain agreement with the Peruvian authorities.

Ambassador Puyat-Reyes thus warned Filipinos intending to travel to South America “to be wary of drug syndicates enticing travelers to transport illegal drugs, no matter how lucrative the ‘handling’ fee may appear.” - INQUIRER.net, November 13, 2009