FEMALE ADS MEMBER, FILIPINA RECRUITER FALL INTO PDEA TRAP; 4.5 KILOS OF SHABU WORTH P24 MILLION SEIZED
- Monday, 04 July 2011
A female member of the African Drug Syndicate (ADS) and a Filipina, who recruits fellow Filipinas to be drug couriers, fell into the trap set up by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). PDEA Director General Undersecretary Jose S. Gutierrez, Jr. identified the arrested suspects as Elizabeth Runana Nyamdura, a Kenyan national and Maria Grace Navarro Lacson alias Gina Lacson, a Filipina recruiter from Concepcion Tarlac. Operatives of the PDEA Special Enforcement Service (PDEA-SES) apprehended Nyamdura and Lacson in the act of turning over packages containing 4.5 kilos of shabu to a PDEA agent and a confidential informant at Room 429 of Hostel 1632 in Adriatico St., Malate Manila on June 29, 2011. Said shabu, with an estimated value of P24 million, were contained in four (4) vacuum-sealed transparent plastic wrapped in aluminum foil.
| Nyamdura, who transported the item from Ethiopia to the Philippines, contacted Lacson to recruit couriers who will deliver the same to Malaysia. Unknown to her, Lacson recruited a PDEA agent and a confidential informant to do the transaction. Lacson has been under the surveillance of PDEA for months. She was responsible for recruiting other Filipina drug couriers as early as 2007. Among her recruits was Melanie Pangan Manalac, who was arrested in Guangzhou China on May 14, 2008. Manalac was in Macau when Lacson introduced her Nigerian boyfriend. Lacson and her Nigerian boyfriend asked Manalac to bring “packages” to China. Manalac was then instructed to transport, by swallowing, 88 grams of heroin concealed in 100 capsules to China. However, Manalac was only able to swallow 10 capsules and threw away the remaining 90 capsules. Manalac, sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, is still languishing in a jail in China. Negotiation is in progress between the Philippines and the Peoples’ Republic of China for the deportation of Manalac next year. |
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