3 West Africans nabbed in drug buy-bust

MANILA, Philippines - Three West African tourists were arrested the other day and yielded 100 grams of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P1.5 million during a buy-bust operation in Bacoor, Cavite.

Victor John Okoh, 37, a Nigerian; Pedro Mendas, 34, a New Guinean, and Bob Douglas, 32, a South African, gave themselves up peacefully when cornered at the Lagalas Eatery in front of a commercial center along Tirano Highway in Bacoor town.

The three foreigners, who were carrying tourist visas, denied owning the seized shabu.

However, they could not explain the P300,000 marked money recovered from them.

Superintendent Roque Merdegia, legal officer of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF), said the arrest of the three West Africans came after the Department of Foreign Affairs ordered the unmasking and arrest of those behind the recruitment of three Filipinos who were sentenced to death in China for being drug mules.

“We have initial information that the recruiters of the three Filipinos scheduled for execution in China belong to a West African drug syndicate so we hatched an operation to get the suspects,” Merdegia said.

He said the three foreigners are now under tactical interrogation to determine whether they had something to do with the recruitment of the three Filipino drug mules.

According to Merdegia, the Special Operations Unit 1 of AIDSOTF arranged the purchase of 100 grams of shabu from the suspects after almost a week of negotiations.

“The Filipina wife of one of the suspects had just delivered a baby and they need a large sum of money for hospital expenses,” he said.

After getting information that one of the suspects was selling shabu, AIDSOTF operatives set up a sting operation and they agreed to consume the deal the other day.

When asked for documents to support their continued stay in the country, the suspects showed tourist visas, with Okoh’s already expired.   – With Ed Amoroso