Cops seek Immigration’s help to nab Mexicans

THE PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) has sought the help of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to track down Mexican nationals allegedly working for the notorious Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel, a police official said yesterday.

The Mexicans, two of whom were identified only by their aliases, Jaime and Joey, could still be in the country, said Chief Insp. Roque Merdegia, spokesperson of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (Aidsotf).

He said the Mexicans may have been sent to the country to jump-start the drug gang’s operations by tying up with Chinese drug syndicates and other local groups.

A Filipino-American, identified as Jorge Gomez Torres, was believed to be the group’s local conduit, Merdegia added.

“The last information we got revealed that the Mexican (drug traffickers) may still be here in the Philippines,” Merdegia told the INQUIRER over the phone.

“We are trying to locate them. We have asked the assistance of the immigration office and other government agencies to find them,” he said.

Merdegia said Aidsotf personnel had been dispatched to several areas to hunt the foreigners.

He declined to divulge the identities of the Mexicans as operations were ongoing.

Yesterday, Aidsotf conducted a follow-up operation against the Sinaloa drug syndicate, “but it did not yield a positive result,” said Merdegia.

“We will not stop our operations until we have arrested all of their members and contacts,” he said.

In separate interviews, Merdegia and a military source told the INQUIRER the Sinaloa drug cartel was not “well-entrenched” in the Philippines and was just among several foreign drug gangs who were trying to penetrate the local drug business.

The PNP discovered the arrival of the dreaded Mexican drug ring, often described by American authorities as the world’smost powerful organized crime group, following a raid on a game fowl farm in Lipa City which the group allegedly used to stash illegal drugs.