Philippines arrests African drug syndicate members

The Philippine anti-narcotics agents have arrested a suspected member of the African Drug Syndicate (ADS) and a Filipina, who recruited fellow Filipinas to be drug couriers, in an entrapment operation in Metro, a senior government official said on Thursday.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Undersecretary Jose Gutierrez Jr. said that 4.5 kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu with an estimated value of 24 million pesos (551,851 U.S. dollars) were also confiscated from the suspects in an operation on Wednesday in Malate, Manila.

He 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.

"Nyamdura, who transported the item from Ethiopia to the Philippines, contacted Lacson to recruit couriers who will deliver the same item to Malaysia. Unknown to her, Lacson recruited a PDEA agent and a confidential informant to do the transaction," Gutierrez said.

Both Nyamdura and Lacson are now detained at the PDEA Metro Manila Regional Office Detention Facility.

Source:Xinhua

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