DRUG mules used to refer to individuals who cross borders bringing with them illegal drugs placed in or on their bodies.
The shabu delivery caught by the police in Samar Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, showed a new kind of drug mule, a new way of trafficking. This time they have the drugs in big amounts and in private cars. Those inside the vehicles, at least, didn’t have to swallow the drugs or conceal them in a body cavity as mules have been known to do for a fee.
The illegal drug seizure Thursday in Samar is the biggest haul in the Visayas. The shabu was placed in sealed plastic bags inside duffle bags. Those arrested didn’t dare open the bags, but they knew they were bringing drugs, all 44 sealed plastic bags weighing 88.49 kilograms with a street value of from P598.4 million to P600 million. Their instructions were to act as if they were simply traveling from one island to another, bringing their cars for the long trip.
The traffickers took two cars from Manila to Calbayog, Samar, by ship. From Calbayog, they were to load the vehicles on another ferry bound for Cebu City. But a snag in their plans led to their capture in a checkpoint along Maharlika Highway in Barangay Tagnao, Gandara at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Since there was no ferry leaving Calbayog for Cebu, they changed their trip, hoping to catch a roll-on, roll-off (ro-ro) vessel to Cebu from Ormoc City instead, but the police got to them.
A video of a police interview of a suspect showed the suspect saying the groups were bound for Cebu. They came from a resort in Calbayog, on their way to Ormoc, then to Cebu by ro-ro. Once in Cebu, they were to leave the vehicles in a mall parking lot.
The suspect also said someone from inside a prison contacted him and connected him with the shabu owner. He received his instructions by phone and started the trip from Manila where the two vehicles were picked up from two separate mall parking areas.
Police should look into the prison connection of the suspects because that person can lead them to the big-time trader. Also, if the confiscated shabu was meant for the Cebu market, police must be able to identify who is the recipient of such huge delivery.
Mall owners should be made aware of how their parking areas are being used by drug traders.
Measures should be taken to prevent the recycling of the shabu shipment following public uproar against “ninja” cops or police members who reuse seized illegal drugs to plant as evidence on others suspects to boost police accomplishment records in the fight against illegal drugs or to trade back into the market.
This modification in the traffickers’ methods should require in turn an adjustment in police operations to catch these slippery criminals. The fact that the shipment almost made it to Cebu, or that one previous delivery probably made it here, is an indication of an imperfect system, a crack in their armor.