Female Kenyan ‘shabu’ courier nabbed at Cebu int’l airport

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines—A Kenyan woman was arrested at the Mactan Cebu International Airport on Wednesday after she was caught bringing in three kilos of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) with an estimated street value of at least P15 million.

Asha Atieno Ogutu, 25, was brought to the detention cell of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) in Cebu City pending filing of charges.

This was a first time that a Kenyan national was arrested on drug charges.

Ogutu arrived at the MCIA past 4 p.m. from Doha Qatar on board Qatar Airways Flight 656.

Unknown to her, the NBI-7 had already received an alert from their central office that a Kenyan would be bringing in drugs through the Mactan airport.

The NBI Manila had been working on a tip that a foreigner would be bringing in drugs to the country from abroad.

The operatives thought the suspect would go to Manila. When it was confirmed that she was passing through Cebu, NBI Manila immediately informed their counterpart in Cebu.

Lawyer Edward Villarta, NBI-7 director, coordinated with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the airport police and the Bureau of Customs after receiving the alert from the central investigation office on Wednesday.

Upon disembarking from the plane, Ogutu was held at the arrival area while three detection dogs sniffed her luggage.

The dogs circled the bag, prompting the NBI agents to open her luggage.

Two aluminum-wrapped packages, each containing 1.5 kilos of a white substance, were found hidden under the lining of her luggage. An NBI chemist sent to the airport later confirmed the substance was shabu.