The airport’s task force against illegal drugs found on Wednesday morning 200 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu concealed in a lava cake inside a package intended for Zamboanga City.
Joint teams of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport-Interagency Drug Interdiction Task Group (NAIA-IADITG) personnel retrieved the illegal drugs from the package.
A report from the airport police department (APD) stated that the shabu was discovered at around 3 a.m., Wednesday, when the parcel went through the x-ray scanner in a cargo service provider hangar.
The cargo was screened before loading to an aircraft for delivery to a recipient in Zamboanga.
Based on the APD report, x-ray operator Juanito Basalla of the cargo forwarding company found something that appeared to be contraband inside the package.
On inspection, the lava cake inside the parcel yielded “approximately 200 grams of shabu wrapped in a carbon paper.” The shabu had been placed in the hollow center of the cake.
The shabu was turned over to the NAIA-IADITG for safekeeping. PDEA is now conducting follow-up operations to track down the source and the recipient of the illegal drugs.