Friday, August 29, 2008 Drug syndicate uses minors By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
DUE to the recent arrest of a minor from Cavite with P140,000 worth of shabu, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) regional office in Baguio City has intensified its operations against drug traffickers using minors as pushers or couriers.
A minor from Cavite was arrested while delivering 10 grams of shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride to a covert PDEA operative, who conducted a buy-bust operation in front of the Quezon Elementary School along Session Road Extension at 2:50 a.m. of August 25.
The minor was described then by Chief Inspector Edgar Apalla, officer-in-charge (OIC) of the PDEA regional office in the Cordillera, as being only 17, single, a fourth year high school student, who hails from and resides in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
A Nokia 1200 cellphone, which was reportedly used to set up his illegal drug transactions, was also confiscated from him as non-drug evidence.
After his arrest, the minor was charged with alleged violations of Section 5 (sale, trading, administration, dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation of dangerous drugs and/or controlled precursors and essential chemicals) and Section 15 (Use of Dangerous Drugs) of Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law before the Baguio City Prosecutor's Office.
In the meantime, he was put under the custody of the Baguio City Jail, while the confiscated dangerous drugs were submitted to the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory regional office based in Camp Bado Dangwa, La Trinidad, Benguet for chemical analysis and the confiscated cellphone was turned over to the PDEA-Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) evidence custodian.
"An investigation revealed the minor has successfully delivered the same kind of contraband to Baguio for at least three times already. Moreover, the minor is suspected to be part of a group in Dasmariñas, Cavite involved in large-scale illegal trafficking of shabu," Apalla revealed.
Earlier, three women from the same town, one of whom is also Muslim like the recently arrested minor, were apprehended earlier in Baguio City with P165,000 worth of shabu in an entrapment conducted by PDEA agents.
Due to these, Apalla said, their unit is exerting all efforts to track down the main source of the illegal drug.
"It has become truly alarming that many pushers and traffickers of dangerous drugs are atrociously using minors as their couriers or 'bearers', taking advantage of the Rule on Children Charged under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 in relation to RA 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, where youths aged 15 years and below are automatically not criminally liable, while those 16 to 17 years of age can be filed with criminal case only upon proof of their discernment of the act, through the assessment of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)," he pointed out.
"Using minors as runners, couriers, and messengers, or in any other capacity directly connected to the dangerous drugs, controlled precursors, and essential chemicals trade is an aggravating circumstance for drug pushers as imposed by the new anti-drug law," Apalla explained.
He said from January to date, the PDEA-CAR and other law enforcement agencies in the region have recorded six minors arrested for drug-related crimes, aside from the unreported cases.
