Press Release
December 7, 2011

Villar calls on POEA and NBI to halt West African
Drug Syndicate-Recruiters to protect OFWs

Senator Manny Villar urged the POEA and NBI to massively check and put to stop drug syndicates recruiting Filipinos to be drug couriers or mules citing the impending execution of a Filipino OFW involved in a drug-syndicate-related case.

The senator also asked the public including millions of overseas workers to offer prayers for the hapless victim and his family in light of tomorrow's scheduled execution. "The family continues to appeal for prayers and I hope that more people would heed this call," Villar stressed.

He noted that the OFW victim was recruited by another Filipino in Macau and was sent to Malaysia where the contraband exchanged hands. The senator said that the method of recruitment and deployment across different borders indicates that the 35-year old Filipino was snagged by a well-entrenched international drug syndicate.

Sad over impending execution of a Filipino in China, Senator Manny Villar called on other Filipinos to heed his lesson and shun any recruiter offering huge amounts of money in exchange for quick trips abroad.

"Let us learn from the extremely sad and painful lesson of this young man's life and its effects on his family. Once someone offers you staggering sums of money and a free trip abroad, then that generous patron is most likely connected to a West African drug syndicate," Villar said.

Villar noted that in most drug trafficking cases involving drug mules, the financiers and masterminds behind the crime are West African syndicates. "These international drug rings recruit Filipinos who then offer money to their own compatriots in exchange for bringing in contraband or carrying packages across borders. Recruitment efforts even make use of social media like Facebook and via e-mails," the staunch OFW advocate said.

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