EDITORIAL - An elusive ‘queen’

Details about the operations and influence of a woman tagged as a “drug queen” are trickling out, and the sources seem to be in agreement about many of the points. The inevitable question is why various law enforcement agencies have failed to arrest Guia Gomez Castro despite her years of alleged notoriety.

Castro, a former captain of Barangay 484 in Sampaloc, Manila, has a sufficiently clean record to be able to go in and out of the country. This month, according to immigration records, she returned to Manila from Vancouver, Canada before leaving again on Sept. 21 for Bangkok, Thailand.

There is speculation that Castro may no longer return after top officials of both the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency identified her as the “drug queen” with a stable of rogue or “ninja” cops who “recycle” illegal drugs seized during police raids. Yesterday, PNP and PDEA officials said Castro is estimated to have earned about P1 billion since 2000 from selling the recycled drugs in the streets. For their efforts, the ninja cops have received gifts including Fortuner sport utility vehicles from the alleged drug queen, the officials said.

President Duterte has often lamented the difficulty of pinning down drug traffickers, who often know enough not to have the prohibited substances in their possession. But in the case of Castro, the protection she enjoys from rogue cops must be the main reason she has eluded arrest and prosecution.

There are other ways, however, of pinning down suspected drug dealers and their protectors in government. While the country lacks laws against racketeering, criminals can be prevented from benefiting in any way from the proceeds of illegal activities. They can be pursued for tax evasion, money laundering and corruption offenses. Once appropriate charges are filed, authorities must immediately seek the return of Castro to the Philippines. She must be held accountable together with the law enforcement officers who protected their “queen.”