P10M worth of drugs seized at Naia

DRUGS IN TOYS Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña shows the box containing a doll and kush marijuana or weeds seized from a FedEx warehouse at Naia after its arrival on April 18 from California, USA.—MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has seized around P10 million worth of illegal drugs concealed in boxes containing a doll and a toy Lego in two separate shipments delivered to the Fedex warehouse of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

‘Shabu’ and weeds

Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said the two shipments of illegal drug contained 2.06 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride, or “shabu,” and 127.60 grams of kush weeds.

In a statement, Lapeña said the two shipments were sent separately on different dates by different senders from California in the United States.

Nonexistent recipients

The package of shabu arrived on March 23 and was consigned to a certain Savannah Valdez of General Trias, Cavite, while the package of kush weeds arrived on April 18 and was consigned to a certain Emmer Soncruz of Quezon City.

Both recipients were nonexistent, according to Customs officials.

During an X-ray inspection by the BOC examiner at the Naia, the examiner noticed suspicious images on the X-ray machine and inspected the package.

The first package was shown to contain a colorless crystalline substance, which was later confirmed in laboratory tests to be methamphetamine hydrochloride.

Declared as toys

The drugs were concealed in the two boxes that were declared as toys.

In one box, the kush weeds were inside a pack placed underneath a doll, while in the other box, the shabu  was inside a yellow bag resembling a Lego brick.

“This accomplishment is not only part of our efforts to hit the BOC’s revenue target, but to intensify our campaign against the smuggling of illegal goods into the country,” Lapeña said.

The BOC yesterday turned over the seized drugs to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.