MANILA – A Mexican national who is believed to be a member of the Sinaloa international drug cartel has been convicted by a Makati City court for drug trafficking.
Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 63 on Wednesday found Horacio Hernandez Herrera guilty beyond reasonable doubt for violating of Section 5, Article 2 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Herrera has been sentenced to life imprisonment by acting Presiding Judge Selma Palacio Alaras and was ordered to pay a fine of P500,000 to P10 million.
“The prosecution was able to establish the legality of accused’s arrest, that he was arrested for selling dangerous drugs,” the court said. “The integrity and evidentiary value of the pieces of evidence seized had been preserved.”
Herrera arrived in the country on Oct. 28, 2013 and was tasked to conduct illegal drug deals in the country through a joint operation with a Chinese drug ring and also supplied cocaine and shabu to a Manila-based drug trafficker.
Herrera was arrested by the agents of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force in front of a restaurant along Makati Aveneu, Barangay Poblacio, Makati City on Jan. 11, 2015.
Seized from Herrera were 2.2 kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of P12 million. The Mexican has pleaded not guilty and claimed that he was abducted to extort money from him.
The conviction of Herrera came on the same day when America’s most wanted drug trafficker and Sinaloa cartel’s top gun Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was convicted by a New York court of money laundering and possession of weapons./PN
