African drug couriers' Pinoy contact falls

MANILA, Philippines - A 25-year-old man was arrested Wednesday for reportedly being the Filipino contact of two alleged members of an African drug syndicate who were caught with 9.2 kilos of shabu hidden in their luggage, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said yesterday.

Nabral Abdulah Mansul is allegedly the intended receiver of the shabu transported by alleged couriers Aicha Camara and Joseph Yaw Kyeremteng, who were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport a few days ago. Mansul, a native of Zamboanga City, was arrested at a hotel in Mandaluyong City Wednesday.

The PDEA, based on information gathered from arrested foreign drug couriers and their contacts in the Philippines, said African drug syndicates may have already established elaborate international networks, with each member assigned a specific function in a three-level hierarchy.

Drug couriers, who are at the lowest level, are the ones paid to travel and transport packages containing illegal drugs. Above them are the strikers or middlemen, who recruit drug couriers. Strikers may have started as drug couriers themselves and climbed up the hierarchy after developing enough of a network to recruit couriers.

At the top are barons, who have the capital to finance drug trafficking operations and established contacts in receiving countries, PDEA said.