Task Force Drug Courier to campaign in Antique

SAN JOSE, Antique — The Task Force Drug Courier will have a campaign on drug mules and courier in the province on March 25.
The advocacy campaign aims to inform and educate the people about Filipinos being used as drug couriers by international drug syndicates, according to Atty. Ma. Janet Mesa, regional director of the Philippine Information Agency.

This is even more urgent amid the pending execution of three overseas Filipino workers in China and 78 others languishing in jails abroad, said Mesa, also a member of the task force.
Statistics showed that in 1993, there were only two recorded drug courier cases. As of January this year, there are 689 recorded drug courier cases, 431 of which are females (63 percent) while 258 are males (37 percent).
Seventy-nine are currently facing death penalty cases, six are facing death with no reprieve while 73 are sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.
Some methods of concealment of drugs are through ingestion/swallowing (19 percent), hiding in luggage/suitcases (31 percent), placing in books/bottles/parcels (seven percent) and others (43 percent) like undergoing minor operation and placing in shoeboxes.
Information officers, local chief executives, chiefs of police, nongovernment organizations, the academe and the religious community will attend the briefing at the Pinnacle Suites and Functions, Brgy. Dalipe here from 1 p.m. to 5p.m. (PIA/PN)