2 West African drug ring members get 20 years

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — Two suspected members of a West African drug ring based in this city have been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Sudanese citizens Sami Saifeldin Osman, 26, a former student at the University of the Cordilleras, and Mohamed Osman Sali were also ordered to pay a fine of P400,000 each.

Regional Trial Court Branch 60 Judge Rufus Malecdan issued the ruling on Jan. 25, which was released yesterday.

The Filipino cohort of the two Sudanese, Dunhill Valentin Calibuso 29, was sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of P300,000.

Osman, Calibuso and Sali were arrested in a raid on a house in Barangay Vicente in July 2019.

Personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), National Bureau of Investigation and local police said the three  yielded sachets of shabu, marijuana leaves and drug paraphernalia.

Ali, who managed to post bail, is at large.

The PDEA office in the Cordilleras had earlier warned the public that members of a West African drug ring have been operating in Northern Luzon and is using Baguio as its center for recruitment of drug mules.

A woman whom Osman and Ali had recruited became a government asset and helped in the arrest of the two.

Meanwhile, two most wanted drug dealers in Calabarzon – George Cayanan Jr. and Ranlfo Ecleco Jr. – were arrested in Imus, Cavite on Thursday.

Police said the suspects yielded an undetermined quantity of shabu. – Emmanuel Tupas