11- year old drug courier nabbed
PNP ALARMED
MANGALDAN—The syndicate behind the illegal drug trade in the province has began to fully exploit of what now appears to be a loophole in the law that works to the syndicate’s advantage – the deployment of minors as drug couriers.
It was this realization that alarmed the Pangasinan Provincial Police Office when its anti-illegal drugs special task group arrested an 11-year old boy, the youngest suspected drug courier yet involved in a buy-bust operation.
Seized from the unnamed suspect was 11 grams of shabu with P30,000 street value in Barangay Poblacion here Monday.
P/Superintendent Benjamin Ariola, head of the task group, said the out-of-school boy handed sachets of shabu to the police operatives who acted as poseur-buyers.
The arrested kid hails from Mindanao and resides in Dagupan City and were it not for his age, he would have been immediately charged for violation of Republic Act 9165, Ariola said.
“This is alarming. We did not expect that we would be dealing with a boy drug courier,” Ariola said.
Ariola said there had been teenage drug couriers arrested, aged 16 to 18, in the recent past but never someone as young as the suspect in the buy-bust operation.
Ariola said laboratory test conducted by the Crime Laboratory showed that the seized items were positive of shabu.
“It’s up to the prosecutor and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to determine if he (suspect) acted with discernment,” he added.
The boy was turned over to the DSWD in Mangaldan for custody.
Parents of the suspect did not show up to acknowledge their son in spite of notice sent to them that their son had been arrested, Ariola said.
The law prescribes that only suspects aged nine years old and below are automatically exempted from determination whether they acted with discernment, Ariola pointed out.
The buy-bust operation was made in coordination with the local police elements here and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Region 1. (Tita Roces)
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