Santo Niño booklet used in drug smuggling try

CEBU, Philippines - The image of the Santo Niño is usually carried around for faith and reverence, but yesterday inside the Cebu City Jail it was used to smuggle drugs. 

Rebeca Areglo, 45, of Barangay Ermita, Cebu City, broke into tears after she was caught trying to smuggle a sachet of suspected shabu into the jail around 11:30 a.m.

Areglo, a laundrywoman, placed the sachet in a booklet containing the image of the Holy Child thinking that security personnel would not bother checking it.

The drugs were intended for her live-in partner, Pepito Maluya, 37, who has been jailed since December last year for physical injuries.

Areglo said she was asked by Maluya, who is a drug addict, to smuggle drugs. 

“I was afraid that he would leave me. He also threatened me if I would not comply with his request,” she said in Cebuano.

During Areglo’s visit last week, Maluya asked for the drugs and cautioned her to take extreme measures not to be caught by the jail authorities.   

 JO1 Gretchen Ramis, who was assigned at the searching area, noticed the suspect was nervous before the search yesterday.

“I saw her pulling something from her left pocket,” she said in Cebuano.

Because of what happened, Areglo said she is ready to end her 20-year-relationship with Maluya.

They have two children, a 10-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl. 

Areglo said that aside from her, Maluya has three other women.  

Areglo will face charges for violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Last February, a 63-year-old grandmother was also arrested for allegedly smuggling drugs inside the jail by hiding it in her pocket.

The woman was visiting her son who has four different drug cases. She denied owning the drugs.  –(FREEMAN)