Cops nab street kids working as drug couriers

Police are now focusing on street children being used as drug couriers with the recent arrest of a boy and a girl caught in the act of delivering shabu to a buyer in Quiapo, Manila.

The children, aged 10 and 14, were caught while in possession of several sachets of shabu, according to Sta. Cruz police station chief Superintendent Romulo Sapitula.

Sapitula said he received a tip from a concerned resident about the modus operandi of Quiapo street pushers who use children as their couriers, prompting him to order his men to be vigilant on the activities of these drug offenders.

At about 8 p.m. last Wednesday, patrolling operatives of the Barbosa police community precinct under Chief Inspector Jobeth Asayo observed two men giving instructions to two children along Palanca street in Quiapo.

As the police approached the group, the two men scampered away leaving the children behind. Police recovered the illegal drugs still in the hands of the children, who revealed that they were instructed to deliver the drugs to a person waiting for them in an specified place.

The children, who sleep on the sidewalks, said they were paid P50 for the task. Police also learned that the girl’s mother is presently detained at the Manila City jail also for drug charges.

Sapitula said drug dealers now employ children as couriers since they accept low payment for their service and are hard to detect by authorities.

Besides, the law does not allow incarceration of child drug offenders, but those children are merely turned over to the social welfare officials for rehabilitation, Sapitula said.

To counter the new modus operandi of drug dealers, Sapitula had ordered a nightly round up of street children in the city, especially those sleeping on the sidewalks.

He also reminded barangay officials, in their weekly Ugnayan forum, to strictly enforce curfew on children.

Meanwhile, police are now hunting down the suspected street pushers based on the testimony of the arrested children. The children were also turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.