INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — This box sent through special delivery looks cheap, but is worth millions – in illegal drugs, that is.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency intercepted P7 million worth of shabu from a courier service in Ozamiz City last week after the recipient never came to pick up the package.
The package was composed of two milk cartons containing one kilo of the illegal drug, sent from Cubao in Quezon City to an addressee in Ozamiz City.
PDEA director general Arturo Cacdac Jr. said operatives of the PDEA and the local police intercepted the contraband by virtue of a search warrant issued by Judge Salome Dungog of the Ozamiz City Regional Trial Court Branch 35, Ozamiz City.
The operation happened last September 9 at 6 p.m. at the branch of a courier service in Gaisano Mall, on Port Road, Barangay (village) Sta. Cruz, in Ozamiz City.
Cacdac said they obtained court permission to open a package sent by a certain Ronnie Lugod of Cristobal Street in Cubao, Quezon City.
“The one kilo of shabu was hidden inside two milk cartons, then wrapped in carbon paper and plastic wrap,” the PDEA chief said of the contraband.
The PDEA learned that the recipient, a certain Christina Dela Cruz, never came to pick up the package.
The parcel arrived at the Gaisano Mall branch two days before the operation.
The anti-narcotics agents brought the seized illegal drugs to the crime laboratory of the Ozamiz City police for forensic examination.
Meanwhile, charges of delivering dangerous drugs under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 will be filed against the still-at-large Dela Cruz.
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