A female traveler bound for Iloilo province won’t be going anywhere after airport authorities detected 500 grams of suspected “shabu” or methamphetamine hydrochloride in her bag on Wednesday.
According to a report signed by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director III Erwin S. Ogario, head of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group, the drugs were first spotted in the bag of Cavite resident Disa Ali, 41, as it was undergoing X-ray screening at the departure area of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 3
around 2 a.m.
The screeners from the Office for Transportation Security then asked for help from the drug interdiction task group. When a police dog detected the presence of narcotics in the bag, it was only then that it was opened, yielding five transparent plastic bags containing a white crystalline substance believed to be shabu.
The suspected drugs have been submitted to the PDEA laboratory for examination while complaints of violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act are being prepared against Ali.
In a phone interview, Ogario expressed his belief that Ali was a drug courier.
Ogario said that Ali had claimed that she did not know she was carrying drugs and that someone just asked her to bring the package. He pointed out, however, that there was an apparent attempt on her part to conceal the contraband as the plastic bags containing the drugs were wrapped in black carbon paper, then stashed at the back of the bag.
Ali had identified the person who gave her the package but her claim remained under investigation, Ogario added.
According to him, Ali had also admitted that her husband has been in jail for a year now on illegal drugs charges.
Naia authorities have enforced stricter inspection measures to apprehend drug traffickers who try to use the airport in their illegal trade.
In 2013, Davao businessman Roendo Ariata was arrested after he tried to smuggle 7 kilos of shabu with a value of P38.5 million into the country from Hong Kong. The drugs were found hidden inside boxes of powdered milk. With Maricar B. Brizuela and Mark Anthony Toldo