NBI exec urges tighter security at Cebu ports to stop drugs trade

Cebu Daily News FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY—Cebu’s drug trade is booming because of lax security at the country’s various points of entry, a high-ranking official of the National Bureau of Investigation said here Friday.

NBI Deputy Director for Regional Operations Service Virgilio Mendez made the statement on Friday after NBI agents arrested Nigerian national James Cunta Okwudii Uyanneh in a buy-bust operation at an inn in the Mandaue City Reclamation Area.

According to Mendez, foreign nationals are able to penetrate local markets like Cebu because there is less security at airports and seaports.

“These prohibited drugs are not seen in the x-ray scans because they are well-placed. This can just be detected by sniffing dogs,” he said.

Mendez explained that before foreigners transact business in the local market, they study the security of an area and recruit local mules, who are mostly females.

Mendez added that in general, the Philippines has become a drop-off point for foreign drug traders.

“There’s a change in this field. Before, the Philippines was just a transshipment point;  now, it has become a drop-off point,” he said.

The NBI said they recovered from Uyanneh 500 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu worth P350,000.

In a follow-up operation on Thursday, NBI raided an apartment in Barangay Yati, Liloan, Cebu, reportedly occupied by Uyanneh and live-in partner Susan. The NBI said they found 700 grams of shabu worth P3.5 million pesos in a travelling bag.

Uyanneh has repeatedly denied that he was selling shabu in Wednesday’s buy-bust operation, saying the shabu taken from him had been planted by the police. He also denied he had a live-in partner.

In a separate operation conducted on Friday, the Cebu City police seized P7.8 million worth of shabu from an alleged pusher, in Barangay Calero, Cebu City.

The police also arrested Roger Rojas, 29, an alleged pusher, from whom they  recovered 26 packs of  shabu in a buy-bust operation held at past 4 a.m. Each pack contained  50 grams of shabu with a street value of  P300,000.

Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, who heads the City Intelligence Branch of the Cebu City police, said Rojas was a Level 1 drug pusher, which meant that he could dispose no less less than a kilo of shabu per week.

Santander said Rojas had given them names of people involved in his illegal drug transactions.

Meanwhile, Mendez challenged concerned government agencies in Cebu to do more in stopping the drug trade in the province.

“This is a wake-up call. This is everybody’s concern. There must be an improvement in the inspection,” the NBI official said.