Pampanga map. INQUIRER FILES
MANILA, Philippines — Over P3.6-billion worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu was seized from a warehouse in Mexico, Pampanga, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said Thursday.
Remulla said the recent drug haul is by far the biggest under the Marcos administration.
The 530 kilos of drugs were seized through a controlled operation by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Bureau of Customs (BoC), and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA).
Remulla said the shabu were placed inside 59 boxes, with each box containing a plastic bag of pork rinds or dried fish to conceal the illegal drugs along with cases of soft drinks and sacks of feeds, with markings in Thai.
The illegal drugs arrived at Subic Port, last September18 from Thailand on board the vessel Sitc Shekou.
“Very, very sophisticated ang kanilang methodology. I do not want to reveal anything yet but even when it comes to our K9, the K9 was not even as effective. Perhaps we have to retrain some of our K9 to be able to be more sophisticated in trying to smell the drugs,” he said.
Remulla said the NBI Task Force Against Illegal Drugs, through the use of its undercover operative, managed to penetrate the drug syndicate, which led to the discovery of the plan to smuggle the drugs into the country.
READ: ‘Shabu’ worth P1.3 billion found in abandoned car in Pampanga
Remulla said the NBI already has a list of individuals to be arrested, but he declined to provide details such as their identities.
“I can’t answer that yet. That is an operational thing. This is a very intricate operation that happened,” he said, adding that the ongoing investigation seeks to uncover how the illegal drugs managed to slip the watch of customs officials at the Subic port.
“We have a list of people to be arrested. It is being worked on by the NBI. The NBI’s job now is pursuing these people since this is a very intricate operation planned months ago,” he added.
Remulla said the NBI is also conducting a financial investigation in tandem with the Anti-Money Laundering Council against the corporations tagged as being used as conduits to traffic the seized illegal drugs.