CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—Antinarcotics agents on Monday seized a 1.5-kilogram shipment of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” stuffed inside a TV set and sent through a courier company, prompting a top antinarcotic official to conclude that the movement of illegal drugs from Manila to Mindanao now passes through otherwise innocent commercial channels.
The man who picked up the shipment, identified as Sammy Yusop, was arrested and is now detained. His mobile phone yielded numbers of politicians and police officers.
Robert Opena, head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Northern Mindanao, said the seized shabu shipment was PDEA’s biggest haul in the region so far.
Opena said PDEA acted on a tip on the incoming shipment, which was being made through a courier company that he refused to name.
He said PDEA coordinated with the courier company to set up a trap for anyone who would pick up the drug shipment in the courier company’s branch at a mall here.
On Monday, Yusop turned up at the courier branch to pick up the package, which was listed as a TV set.
Two packets of shabu weighing a total of 1.5 kg were found stuffed in the picture tube of the 20-inch TV set.
Yusop, according to Opena, waited until the mall was about to close before claiming the package. After signing the receipt for the package, Yusup proceeded to the mall’s parking lot.
As Yusop was about to enter a brand new Toyota Grandia van (license plate KEE-331) PDEA agents pounced on him and announced the arrest. Yusop did not resist.
Opena said based on conservative estimates, the drug haul was worth at least P15 million.
Opena quoted Yusop as saying during interrogation that the drugs were bound for Pagadian City, but Opena said he doubted whether Yusop was telling the truth.
“We believe it was either for Bukidnon or Central Mindanao,” Opena said. PDEA, he said, arrested a drug suspect with the same surname, Yusop, during a raid in Bukidnon in September.
Opena said he believed Yusop was working for a big drug syndicate. “We disrupted their operation and business,” he said.
Opena said PDEA would request for a forensic examination of the mobile phone seized from Yusop as this could contain “a mine of data.”
He said initially, PDEA saw on the phone’s list of contacts “familiar names of politicians and police officers.”
Opena said PDEA would investigate how extensive Yusop’s operation was and if he had used the same courier company to receive drugs in the past.
PDEA, he said, had already asked the courier company for a list of possible transactions Yusop had with it.
As charges against Yusop were being prepared, Opena said PDEA was also trying to secure CCTV footage at the courier firm’s Manila branch from where the package was sent. Bobby Lagsa, Inquirer Mindanao