Drug mules in Tai Lam Center for Women in Hong Kong

At least seven Cordillera women aspiring for overseas work have turned up in Hong Kong detention centers after they were accused of acting as “drug mules” for an illegal drug syndicate, the Inquirer learned on Tuesday.
A “mule” is the law enforcement term for an unwitting drug courier, according to officials of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) here.Ebgan Inc., a gender rights group, said all of these Filipinos are women, who were enticed to travel to China for free.Lynn Madalang, Ebgan executive director, said the offer of free Hong Kong trips is convenient for local women applying for work overseas.“Some of them are escaping bad relationships or abusive spouses, so a free trip is so tempting, even if you should be concerned that there doesn’t seem to be any strings attached,” Madalang said.She said many migrant workers also believe that proof of travel would increase their chances of securing travel visas for work abroad.
But the women were asked to carry suspicious pieces of luggage to China, Madalang said.Two Cordillera women were consequently jailed when their luggage turned out to conceal heroin when they entered Hong Kong, she said.Ebgan and NBI have been able to tie together at least seven arrests in Hong Kong of Cordillera women because they were all sent there using money given by Benny Annaway, 42, a former taxi driver here.Based on information gathered by Ebgan and NBI, Hong Kong and other Chinese jails have in custody two sisters from Ifugao; a woman from Bauko, Mt. Province; a woman from Sabangan, also in Mt. Province; and two women from Conner, Apayao.
Madalang said she was trying to find out if more Cordillera women were victimized by this drug operation, which, she said, could have been going on since 2006.An official of the travel agency, which issued these women their Hong Kong tickets, said they were cooperating with investigators. The official said the agency sold more than seven tickets to Annaway.Annaway, in an April 24 testimony he made before NBI agent Dickson Maraneg, admitted recruiting several of these women on behalf of a China-based benefactor he identified only as “IFEANYI,” based on a transaction receipt from Western Union.Annaway said he received $2,500 which he distributed to the recruits.He spent on their travel fees and roundtrip airfares and provided each recruit $400 in travel allowances.But Annaway said he was not aware that they were duped into carrying illegal drugs to China.As proof of his good faith, Annaway said his own cousin is among those detained now at the Tai Lam Center for Women in Hong Kong.Annaway said the luggage carried by his cousin, Michelle, to Guangzhou, China, on March 30, was sent to him on March 21 by his China-based wife, Joehan, through a Filipina named Uria.After getting the luggage, Annaway said a man, who identified himself as Joehan’s “boss,” called and directed him to keep the luggage until it was fetched by a person leaving for Hong Kong.Annaway admitted opening the luggage after his wife told him it contained “precious jewelry,” but found them empty.
“I found nothing in the luggage but I was perplexed because they were heavy,” he said.Annaway said he actually kept two pieces of luggage. A woman named Vilma and Michelle each took a luggage to Guangzhou.He said he was later asked to fetch another luggage, which he delivered to a shopping mall in Metro Manila. A black man (which he described in his affidavit as “negro”) took the third luggage, he said.Madalang said local authorities were wondering where the luggage came from.
“There were testimonies that the luggage were marked by customs in Africa, so it must have come from there. But why would it go all the way to the Philippines and then sent to China?” she said.NBI agents and personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, who were approached by the Inquirer, were also wondering why the luggage concealed heroin and not cocaine, which is easier to ship because the drug is refined and is more expensive.Relatives of the detained women from Mt. Province approached Ebgan last week for advice.They carried with them letters sent out by the jailed women. Two letters sent by different women confirmed that Michelle is also in the Tai Lam detention center.