year-old Filipina is held in Thailand after she was caught attempting to smuggle over four kilograms of cocaine into the country, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Saturday. In a release posted on its website, the DFA said the unidentified Filipina was arrested at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport on Aug. 2 by agents of the Thai Narcotics Suppression Bureau. About 4.16 kilograms of cocaine was allegedly found in her possession. The Filipina was en route to Vietnam from Lima in Peru, and was waiting in Thailand for her connecting flight when she was arrested, the release added. “She allegedly confessed that she was hired to deliver the illegal substance to an unidentified person in Vietnam,” the DFA said. According to the DFA, possession of narcotics is considered a grave offense in Thailand and in almost all countries around the world, where the length of the sentence is usually commensurate to the amount of substance found on the suspect. The Philippine embassy in Bangkok again reminded Filipinos not to accept offers from individuals or groups to carry illegal drugs when going abroad. The embassy said a new modus operandi by drug syndicates is to look for prospective victims through Internet chat rooms. “Initially, the victimizer will pretend to be a potential lover or boyfriend,” it said. “After weeks of online chatting, the victimizer would invite the Filipina to visit him in Thailand.” “Once the Filipina agrees, the victimizer sends a plane ticket and a letter of invitation to facilitate her travel,” said Philippine Ambassador to Thailand Linglingay Lacanlale. Lacanlale said the embassy found this out in their review of cases involving Filipino women. “It is usually on the Filipina's second or third return to Thailand, when her confidence has probably been won over by the (man) that he uses the Filipina as a “drug mule,” Lacanlale said in the release. It is unknown if the recent victim was recruited using the same scheme. Other Filipinos detained in Thailand admitted that they agreed to smuggle prohibited drugs for a fee ranging from $1,000 to $5,000. The DFA's Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (DFA-OUMWA) said that this modus operandi of luring Filipinas as drug mules through Internet chat rooms has also been reported in Kuala Lumpur. The DFA has thus instructed the embassy to ensure assistance to the Filipinas, including legal representation in all their court appearances, consular assistance and continuous monitoring of their case. Overseas-bound Filipino workers have fallen prey to drug syndicates recruiting couriers, also known as mules, to transport illegal drugs inside their luggage or shoes or fabric buttons. Syndicates, however, have recently come up with more dangerous ways of smuggling prohibited substances, like stuffing drugs inside the bodies of Filipino couriers, the DFA said.
