AIRPORT customs agents on Sunday arrested a graduating college student for allegedly smuggling around 4.8 kilos of cocaine found in his two checked-in bags.
Customs Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force (AIDTF) agents arrested JonJon Villamin, 22, of Manila and a senior college student after officials found 4.8 kilos of suspected cocaine with a street value of more than P25 million in his luggage.
Villamin said he never thought he was carrying the illegal drug following his arrest at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) from Brazil via Dubai.
Customs Deputy Commissioner Arnel Alcaraz, who is in charge of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Enforcement Group, who led the team that intercepted the contraband, said: “Multiple sources have confirmed that the new modus operandi of drug syndicates is to use young adults and retirees as couriers.”
“This is wildly varied from their previous strategy of using middle-aged returning overseas workers,” he added.
“I have said it a number of times before, and I will say it again,” Alcaraz said. “This version of the BOC Enforcement Group is completely different from the one that criminals have learned to mislead in the past. We are better trained, better organized, and most important, motivated and passionate about our jobs. We will catch you—that’s a promise,” he also said.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Regional Director Wilkins Villanueva said the agency received A-1 information from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (US-DEA) a Filipino passenger from Brazil via Dubai onboard Emirates Air Flight EK 332 is bringing “high-value drugs.”
Authorities alerted their personnel and later asked Villamin to proceed to the customs office for inspection of his luggage.
Authorities found the suspected cocaine placed in a false bottom and sidings of his two pieces of luggage. Some 2 kilos was found in one of Villamin’s luggage and another 2.8 kilos in the other luggage.
Villamin admitted that he met a Brazilian tourist in the Philippines two years ago when he accompanied him to buy a SIM card for his new-found friend’s cellular telephone while he was still with a communication company. They became close friends since then.
One day, he said the Brazilian asked Villamin to go to Brazil, with all of the expenses shouldered by the Brazilian, including hotel accommodations and some pocket money.
“While in Brazil, my Brazilian friend brought me to some of their tourist spots and while I was about to go home, he gave me two suitcases to bring back to Manila without knowing its content,” Villamin said.
The authorities doubt Villamin’s story, saying it was just an alibi.
Villanueva appealed to all Filipino travelers not to accept packages or cases without knowing their contents “because this act of kindness will send you in jail.”
Image credits: Recto L. Mercene
1 comment
As usual when caught, Mules deny knowledge of the bag given by a friend.
Just like Mary Jane Veloso.
LOL!!!!