DRUG SYNDICATES USING PHILPOST AS NEW MARKETING VEHICLE

The government's continuing crackdown on illegal drugs -- spearheaded
by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency -- has created a host of
problems for criminal syndicates, obliging them to institute radical
changes in their distribution setup in order for them to satisfy the
tremendous demand for their deadly product (by and large
methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu) by millions of unfortunate
addicts all over the country.

One sure sign that tremendous inroads are being made into the murky
netherworld of the local drug lords is the fact that the price of
shabu in the streets has skyrocketed in recent months, already way
beyond the reach of your ordinary run-of-the-mill junkie.

According to Director General Anselmo Avenido of the PDEA, shabu,
which only used to fetch around P1,000 per gram from the neighborhood
pusher a few years ago, can now be had for a whopping P4,000-P6,000
(depending on the perceived monetary capability of the addict).

What this clearly indicates is that street shabu supplies are fast
drying up due to the dismantling of several large laboratories in
recent weeks and the confiscation by the police of several tons of raw
and ready-for-distribution stocks.

The resultant shortage of shabu in the open market has forced drug
distributors who are in possession of the remaining stocks still being
offered for sale to drastically cut down on their deliveries to
clients for fear of being busted by the police through stoolies and to
adopt a wait-and-see attitude until the situation cools down to their
liking.

In the traditional points of entry of illegal drugs into the
Philippines such as the airports and piers, PDEA watchdogs are doing
such an efficient job in monitoring the contents of incoming shipments
that the smuggling of such cargos has dropped to a trickle.

This, however, has not deterred cunning drug lords from exploring new
avenues to allow them to continue with their lucrative enterprise
where they had earned billions in the past and would continue to earn
billions more if they could only surmount their current problems, as
the PDEA rudely found out.

Some weeks ago, during a surprise visit to the PhilPost's Dead Letter
Office, Avenido was reported to have discovered small amounts of shabu
and dried marijuana leaves in several packets of mail which was enough
to indicate that criminal syndicates, in cahoots with corrupt
personnel, could already be utilizing the country's postal system to
expand their marketing network from the confinements of urban areas
and allow them to reach people in outlying places.

A brilliant idea indeed hatched up by criminal syndicates desperate to
recover lost ground due to the relentless campaign being waged against
them by the authorities. What better way to distribute their shabu
than using the innocuous letter carriers of PhilPost.

While they have been focusing too much of their attention prying into
the private lives of officials of the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of
Internal Revenue and the Department of Public Works and Highways, it
looks like the Transparency Group of Malaca'ang headed by Nick Conti
may have overlooked other low-key government agencies that are
similarly neck-deep in corruption.

The PhilPost is one such agency.

Believe it or not, the Postal Rank and File Employees Association
(Prafea) claims there exists a P7-million weekly slush fund being
spread around by syndicates operating inside who are involved in drug
smuggling and gunrunning activities.

Among those responsible for the increasing presence of criminals in
the PhilPost system, according to the Prafea sources, is this official
who was caught red-handed by National Bureau of Investigation agents
receiving marked money from an extortion victim during an entrapment
operation in a downtown hotel several years ago. The guy somehow
managed to resurrect his career and in now acting as the go-between of
the criminal syndicates and certain corrupt Philpost officials.