MANILA, 30 July 2005 — International drug syndicates are targeting Filipinos, particularly women, to become unwitting couriers in their drug smuggling operations, the Department of Foreign Affairs warned yesterday.
In a press statement, the DFA said a number of Filipinos who have been apprehended at international airports in possession of illegal drugs were found to have been tricked to become couriers by people they didn’t even know.
“Would-be OFWs are also warned to stay clear of unlicensed recruiters and other persons who pretend to be offering legal jobs abroad not in compliance with the legal recruitment processes enforced by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration or POEA,” the DFA warned.
The DFA’s Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs outlined the modus operandi of drug syndicates as follows:
• Jobs are usually offered to Filipino women to work in an Asian capital, although only tourist visas are issued to the applicants;
• Once abroad, the Filipino is ordered to stay in a hotel for a number of days and is only given phone numbers of contact persons in the country where the Filipino is staying;
• After some time, a foreign national will meet the Filipino at her hotel. It is at this time that the Filipino is informed that she is to deliver something to some South American destination;
• The Filipino will be given plane tickets usually roundtrip, from the Asian capital to a Latin American country via Europe and back, as well “payment for services,” usually amounting to $4,000;
• While in the Latin American country, another foreign national will meet the Filipino at a predetermined hotel to get her luggage and will eventually return the same luggage to her, but this time containing illegal drugs, i.e. cocaine, concealed among the packed belongings for her return trip to Asia;
• In case of arrest, the duped Filipino victims are sentenced to imprisonment, usually lasting from two to six years, depending on the amount of illegal drugs found in her possession.
According to the DFA, Filipinos, especially those seeking work abroad, should remember that no legal job could possibly be awaiting them abroad if their recruiter only arranged for them to get a tourist visa.
To avoid being victimized by deceptive recruiters, applicants must coordinate with proper authorities such as POEA and the Presidential Anti-Illegal Recruitment Task Force, it warned.
