Jobless man abducted to smuggle heroin to Macau: police

Agence France-Presse | 11/04/2009 4:12 PM

MANILA - Two suspected drug traffickers have been arrested in the Philippines while escorting a man who was set to fly to Macau after swallowing tubes filled with heroin, police said Wednesday.

Police stopped a taxi carrying the three men in central Manila on Monday following a tip-off from the parents of the man who had swallowed the drugs, said Philippine National Police deputy chief Jefferson Soriano.

The son, Jayson Ordinario, told police he was an unwilling courier, said Soriano.

The police official said the 22 year-old jobless man, who had worked briefly in the Chinese territory of Macau, was not being treated as a suspect.

Laboratory tests confirmed the 11-gram (0.39-ounce) tubes contained high-grade heroin, Soriano told reporters.

"He was forced to swallow all 34 tubes," Soriano added.

Soriano said the two suspects were believed to be part of a drug gang that smuggles heroin into China, Malaysia and other parts of the world using human couriers who are made to carry the chemicals in their stomachs.

Ordinario told police he was abducted in central Manila on Sunday.

"My wife and I were on our way to church when I was abducted," he told reporters.

"They forced me to swallow the tubes with some soft drink. They warned me something bad would happen to me if I did not comply," he added.

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