Venezuelan caught with 4.3 kilos of cocaine

MANILA, Philippines - A Venezuelan woman was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) yesterday for smuggling 4.3 kilos of high-grade cocaine in sachets of hair coloring solution. 

Genesis Lorena Pineda Salazar, 22, arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil via Dubai, according to Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials, headed by NAIA district collector Ed Macabeo.

BOC and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operatives were on alert after receiving a tip from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency that a Venezuelan woman was scheduled to fly in from Dubai with illegal drugs.

The sachets containing cocaine were found in Salazar’s check-in luggage.

Brazilian admits being drug mule

Meanwhile, a 20-year-old Brazilian woman, caught smuggling 6.2 kilos of cocaine into the country last Saturday, admitted to stashing the drugs in her luggage, saying she needed the money, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said yesterday.

Records show it was Yasmin Fernandez Silva’s first trip to the Philippines when she was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 last Saturday, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente said.

Though immigration officers “had difficulty conversing with Silva because she speaks Portuguese. But based on the report, she knew she was carrying cocaine and that she needed the money,” BI spokesperson Ma. Antonette Mangrobang said.

She added that Silva’s admission was different from the four others who were also caught smuggling cocaine at the airport “because they claimed that the luggage was just given to them and they did not know there were illegal drugs inside.”

On Oct. 2, Filipino student Jon-Jon Villamin Jr. was arrested for carrying 4.8 kilos of cocaine while Hong Kong nationals Chan Kawai and Pau Homanevan and Russian national Kirdyushkin Yuri were caught carrying 27 kilos of cocaine on Oct. 5. 

In the three cases, all the suspects went to Brazil and Dubai before going to Manila. All of them also used the same airline. – Evelyn Macairan