The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has reported a 460 percent increase increase in the smuggling of Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), popularly known as ecstasy, into the country. “Smuggling of ecstasy is expanding in the last three years. It grew from 13,000 tablets in 2019 to more
(File photo) MANILA - The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the life imprisonment sentence handed down by a Manila court to a septuagenarian Colombian national who was nabbed in 2017 for entering the country with 1.17 kilograms of cocaine in rubber pellets inside his stomach. The appellate court's Ninth Division, in a 23-page decision dated February 22, denied the appeal filed by Alberto Quijano, 72, and affirmed the decision of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 31, that convicted him of transportation of illegal drugs and ordered him to pay a PHP2 million fine. Quijano was apprehended by operatives of the Airport Drug Interdiction Task Group at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on Nov. 12, 2017, following a tip from the United States government about the suspect who arrived in the country onboard Emirates Airline flight EK-332 from Dubai. Law enforcers accosted and immediately brought the suspect to the Pasay General Hospital, where he underwent an x-r