How to avoid being an unwitting drug courier

Published Apr 24, 2015, 5:44:01 PM

Updated Apr 29, 2015, 10:02:00 AM

“It’s so enriching to work with these people … the struggle that they go through in a new setting that involves a lot of adjustments — language, culture, religion. Anything familiar is lost by going abroad," says Tanalega. "So being with them in this ... journey — I would call it pilgrimage also — we will be there as long as we can.”

(CNN Philippines) — The Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operation Task Force (AIDSOTF) gave important tips to keep the public from being involved in illegal drug trades, following the case of Mary Jane Veloso, an overseas Filipino worker who faces imminent execution in Indonesia for smuggling heroin five years ago at the Yogyakarta Airport in Indonesia.

Allegedly, Veloso was not aware that a bag of heroin was sewn into her suitcase.

Many Filipinos have been intercepted with drugs in the past years, both here and abroad.

Senior Supt. Leonardo Suan advised the public to avoid befriending drug mules and those they don't know too well.

Also, when leaving the airport, whether locally or internationally, don't agree to carry someone else's baggage and packages.

Watch: Is your luggage safe at the airport?

Suan said the consequences for smuggling drugs are not worth the easy money they may earn.

Drug syndicates use various ways to hide and smuggle narcotics from one country to another. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said the most common of which is hiding drugs inside or in some body cavity.

NBI Anti-Illegal Drug Unit Chairperson Joel Tuvera detailed how drug mules smuggle it aside from hiding in luggage's secret compartment, fake bottom, or even its frame.

Some drug mules even attach the drugs to the body.

The NBI detects and intercepts drugs through profiling, X-ray machines, and frisking.

Sometimes, the NBI's counterpart in other countries provide them intelligent tips on who to watch out for.

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