Pinay sisters nabbed for drug smuggling in Hong Kong to face court in October

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said the two Filipino sisters found carrying 14.5 kilos of methamphetamine — known in the Philippines as shabu — in Hong Kong last weekend are scheduled to face the court in October.

“The Filipinos are yet to be charged in court, but there was a court mention of the case earlier today,” DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez told GMA News Online via text on Wednesday, adding that “The next hearing has been set for October.”

Hernandez said “the Philippine government will extend all appropriate consular assistance to the said nationals.”

The DFA refrained from revealing the names of the Filipinas to the public for privacy concerns.

According to a "News to Go" report on Wednesday morning, one of the Filipinas plan to file an appeal in court so that she could seek bail.

Citing a report from the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong, Hernandez said the two Filipinas were bound for Clark, Pampanga when they were arrested at a Hong Kong airport on Sunday.

“According to the report, the two Filipinas aged 27 and 31 possibly sisters, were found to be carrying 14.5 kilograms of merhamphetamine in false compartments in their suitcases,” Hernandez noted.

The drugs have a street value of $1.4 million (roughly around P60 million), which the DFA said was the biggest drug seizure in Hong Kong since 2011.

The latest drug trafficking incident involving Filipinos indicates that many are unfazed by the death sentences carried out by the Chinese government on five Philippine nationals who smuggled large quantities of drugs to the country since 2011.



No death penalty in Hong Kong

Although a special administrative region of China, Hong Kong does not impose death penalty. A person caught in possession of more than 50 grams is meted the death penalty in China if convicted.

“Hong Kong’s Dangerous Drugs Ordinance prescribes a maximum penalty of life imprisonment on those found guilty of drug trafficking,” Hernandez said.

In exchange for huge payments, ranging from $3,000 to $4,000, Filipino women and lately even men are reportedly being hired by West African drug syndicates to smuggle drugs mainly in Asia and South America - sometimes by ingesting it.

The DFA noted that the latest incident involving the two arrested Filipinas came less than a month after China executed a 35-year-old Filipina drug courier on July 3.

The Filipina was caught carrying at least six kilos of heroin in China in January 2011.

In March 2011, three Filipinos—Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, and Elizabeth Batain—were executed in China via lethal injection for possession of illegal drugs.

Credo and Villanueva were executed in Xiamen, while Batain was executed in Guangzhou on March 30 that year.

On May 24, 2008, Batain was caught smuggling 6,800 grams of heroin in Shenzhen.

In the same year, Villanueva was caught on December 24 smuggling 4,110 grams of heroin in Xiamen, while Credo was caught four days later smuggling 4,113 grams of heroin in the same place.

In December 2011, a 35-year-old Filipino was also executed in China for bringing 1.5 kilos of heroin to the country.

The DFA said there are 213 drug-related cases involving Filipino nationals.

Of this figure, 28 resulted in death penalty convictions with two-year reprieve, 67 in life imprisonment and 107 termed imprisonment while 10 are still pending in courts.
  - with a report from Michaela del Callar, VVP, GMA News