Plaque of appreciation hid ‘shabu’ in Naia smuggle try

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has seized outbound air parcels containing some P1.5 million worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu,” with their senders apparently trying to be creative in concealing the drug in ordinary household or office items.

In a series of interceptions last month, the BOC found packets of shabu stuffed in a box of diapers, squeezed inside a framed plaque of appreciation from a parish, sealed in a rice cooker, and tucked in between sheaves of documents.

The seized packages contained a total of 197 grams of shabu and were bound for the United Kingdom, Italy and Saudi Arabia, BOC deputy commissioner for enforcement Ariel Nepomuceno told reporters on Tuesday.

Customs inspectors manning x-ray scanners for outbound cargo found them at one of the warehouses of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) from May 8 to 20.

Having turned over the seized items to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for further investigation, Nepomuceno withheld the names of the recipients of the packages. The names of the senders, on the other hand, turned out to be “fictitious” when checked by the BOC, he added.

“The drug dealers’ tactics are always changing, always evolving,” Nepomuceno said. “While we have the technology to detect illegal drugs, we cannot screen every cargo and drug dealers will always look for other ways to smuggle their shipment through.”

“We need more equipment so we can expand our package screening coverage,” the BOC official added, recalling how inspectors also found shabu stashed in shoes and speakers in earlier interceptions.

With Christine Rhea Lectura