138 sacks of ammonium nitrate seized in Mindoro

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines—The police confirmed Saturday that the substance contained in 138 sacks which the Coast Guard seized at the Dangay port in Roxas, Oriental Mindoro, on Tuesday was ammonium nitrate, a substance used to make fertilizers as well as explosives.

Senior Inspector Edgrado Lim, Roxas police chief, in a phone interview Saturday that the while ammonium nitrate may be lawfully purchased as an ingredient for fertilizer, the Coast Guard seized this particular shipment because it was disguised as hog feed. Each of the 138 sacks confiscated weighed 25 kilos, he said.

The authorities arrested Willie Basanes, 46, the driver of the Isuzu forward truck, where the ammonium nitrate was loaded for transport supposedly to Iloilo City via the port in Caticlan, Aklan.

Lim said Coast Guard personnel discovered the truck’s content during a routine inspection at the port at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

“The Coast Guards were first told that the truck contained empty containers for fish. But when they opened it, the truck helper said they were chemicals used as fertilizer for mango trees,” said Lim.

The authorities became suspicious when the driver could not present any document for having the chemicals in his possession, prompting his arrest.

The truck helper, whose identity was unknown, escaped, Lim said.

Basanes, in his statement to the police, said he did not know that the sacks contained chemicals as he was only hired, through a trucking company, to pick up the sacks from Taysan, Batangas. He said he did not know who hired the truck.

Lim said Basanes was charged with illegal possession of explosives.