RP has most number of arrested drug mules in China

Sept 05, 2009

The Philippines is the top member country of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) with the most number of nationals arrested for drug smuggling charges in China, the Philippine Consulate said Friday.

“Ang pag-akyat sa talaan ng bilang ng mga Filipino ay sobrang nakababahala sa gobyerno(This rise in number is worrying the government)," said Consul General Joselito Jimeno.

Jimeno said there are currently 95 Filipinos languishing in various jails in Chinese territories – four of whom are on death row. Asean countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam have only about 10 to 20 jailed nationals each.The consul general said the jailed Filipinos were accused of smuggling illegal substances like heroin or diamorphine from countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Nepal, Cambodia, and the Philippines into Chinese territories.

Drug trafficking of 50 grams or more of highly prohibited drugs is punishable by death in China and its territories.Jimeno said unsuspecting Filipinos are usually duped by foreign drug syndicates, even sometimes through fellow Filipinos, into smuggling illegal drugs for $500 to $2,000 a trip.

But he said because of the high technology in Chinese airports and train terminals, carriers of prohibited substances are easily spotted.

This, said the consul general, prompted them to issue a warning to all China-bound Filipinos to be very careful of suspicious characters, thus keeping themselves from trouble. [See: ]According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), about 500 Filipinos are languishing in jails abroad for drug-related cases.

In 2008 alone, 111 Filipinos were arrested for drug-related offenses in the Chinese territories, representing a 594-percent increase from the 16 arrested in 2007. Of those arrested in 2007 and 2008, 22 are facing death sentence, 12 have gotten life, while 11 have been made to serve 15-16 years prison terms.In an earlier report, the PDEA chief said that the agency is already working on a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to help prevent Filipinos from being used as drug couriers.