Witness who can identify source of heroin in Mary Jane bag backs out –NBI

A possible witness who could supposedly identify the Nigerian national who gave Mary Jane Veloso the drug-laden luggage when she traveled from Malaysia to Indonesia in April 2010 has backed out from testifying.

This was according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), which said the witness, who is based in Malaysia, was initially willing to identify the “Ike” mentioned by Mary Jane in her affidavit.

“She was supposedly a potential victim of Ike and she even had executed an affidavit in Malaysia but she backed out,” said Baset Sarip of the  NBI Anti-Human Trafficking Division (NBI-AHTRAD).

Sarip said the woman backed out from giving her testimony for safety reasons.

In an affidavit executed in March in Indonesia, Mary Jane claimed her recruiter, Ma. Cristina Sergio, had introduced her to a certain "Ike," who gave her the bag that she brought from Malaysia to Indonesia. She was arrested at the Yogyakarta Airport for drug smuggling.

NBI agents who went to Malaysia to check its database have found out that there are at least four "Ikes" currently living there. They also found one who goes by that name in Bacoor, Cavite.

However, investigators have yet to determine who among these Ikes was Mary Jane referring to in her affidavit.

In an artist sketch, Ike was described by Mary Jane as aged 30 to 35 years old, weighing 230 to 250 pounds, more than 6-foot tall, and with dark complexion.

She also described Ike as of "African descent," but Sergio later revealed in a statement to authorities that Ike was Nigerian.

Mary Jane, 30, is suspected to have been victimized by the West African drug syndicate operating in southeast Asia. She was supposed to have been executed by firing squad in Indonesia last April 29, but she was given a reprieve so she could testify against her alleged recruiters in the Philippines.

Sergio and her live-in partner are facing illegal recruitment, human trafficking and estafa charges. —KBK, GMA News

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