Poverty and Filipino Drug Mules
Poverty and the Filipino Drug Mules
Introduction
Among the most admired Filipinos today are the Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs. They have been dubbed as New Heroes or Bagong Bayani by no less than the late Corazon “Cory” Aquino because of the way they willingly leave their families and the comforts of home to pursue high-earning jobs abroad. An estimated 8.2 to 11 million Filipinos or 11% of the total Filipino population work in other countries to support their families and to make their dreams of a better life into a reality. But today, the honor and reputation of OFWs have become marred because of controversial drug mules among them who have been arrested in various countries, with a number sentenced to die in China (“Overseas”, 2011).
According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), drug mules transport heroin, shabu, cocaine or marijuana mostly to China (90%), Hong Kong (9%) and Taiwan (1%). Drugs are usually hidden in suitcases, luggage, shoes or handbags, ingested or swallowed using latex balloons and capsules, or strapped to the body. Some are even inserted to the body through minor surgical operations, or in worse cases, inserted into the female vagina. Filipino females are the preferred drug couriers because they pose lesser detection risk from authorities (Agatep, 2011).
PDEA reveals that the modus operandi of recruiters is to befriend potential drug mules or victims with high-paying job offers, or an offer to marry the recruit, or meet through casual acquaintance or social networking sites such as Facebook and My Space. They even engage travel agents and tour operators to arrange airline and hotel bookings and use fake credit cards and documents to quickly facilitate transactions (Agatep, 2011).
Journalist Wanda Smith (n.d.) explained how drugs are often divided into pellets to be inserted into the body or orifice; drug mules who swallow them then take laxatives for expelling the drug pellets. Despite the risk of capture,
Introduction
Among the most admired Filipinos today are the Overseas Filipino Workers or OFWs. They have been dubbed as New Heroes or Bagong Bayani by no less than the late Corazon “Cory” Aquino because of the way they willingly leave their families and the comforts of home to pursue high-earning jobs abroad. An estimated 8.2 to 11 million Filipinos or 11% of the total Filipino population work in other countries to support their families and to make their dreams of a better life into a reality. But today, the honor and reputation of OFWs have become marred because of controversial drug mules among them who have been arrested in various countries, with a number sentenced to die in China (“Overseas”, 2011).
According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), drug mules transport heroin, shabu, cocaine or marijuana mostly to China (90%), Hong Kong (9%) and Taiwan (1%). Drugs are usually hidden in suitcases, luggage, shoes or handbags, ingested or swallowed using latex balloons and capsules, or strapped to the body. Some are even inserted to the body through minor surgical operations, or in worse cases, inserted into the female vagina. Filipino females are the preferred drug couriers because they pose lesser detection risk from authorities (Agatep, 2011).
PDEA reveals that the modus operandi of recruiters is to befriend potential drug mules or victims with high-paying job offers, or an offer to marry the recruit, or meet through casual acquaintance or social networking sites such as Facebook and My Space. They even engage travel agents and tour operators to arrange airline and hotel bookings and use fake credit cards and documents to quickly facilitate transactions (Agatep, 2011).
Journalist Wanda Smith (n.d.) explained how drugs are often divided into pellets to be inserted into the body or orifice; drug mules who swallow them then take laxatives for expelling the drug pellets. Despite the risk of capture,
References: Agatep, C. (2011) “The war against illegal drugs trafficking” Retrieved from http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=756224&publicationSubCategoryId=135 Anderson, K Ching, B. (2011). “Pinoy Drug Mule on dDeath row: Who 's to blame?” Retrieved from http://kuro-kuro.org/archives/4697 Cruz, N “Drug mules; should we spend money to free them?” (2011) Retrieved from http://tribong-upos.xanga.com/757285401/drug-mules-should-we-spend-money-to-free-them/ Kwinana, N (2011) Trimiew, A, (1997) Bible Almanac. USA: Publications International Tullao, T Tubeza, P. (20110. Church calls for more prayers for 3 Filipino drug mules http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20110329-328272/Church-calls-for-more-prayers-for-3-Filipino-drug-mules Vivar, T