American nabbed for carrying cocaine

ALLAN Soo Hoo CLARK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT CORP.

CLARK FREEPORT—The ploy to use an “innocent and sad- looking” elderly man to carry illegal drugs into the Philippines from Dubai did not work when Clark International Airport (CRK) officials stopped an American found carrying packs of cocaine on Sunday.

Allan Soo Hoo, 68, was an unlikely suspect, but his hand-carried luggage yielded two packages containing 2.4 kilograms of cocaine, said Alexander Cauguiran, officer-in-charge of the state-owned Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC).

The white powdery substance was tested and confirmed to be cocaine by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Hoo, an American citizen of Chinese descent, is an accountant who works for small companies in the United States, initial information showed. He boarded an Emirates flight from Dubai. The flight dropped off passengers in Cebu and then flew to CRK where Hoo disembarked.

The contraband was discovered because strict security protocols required Hoo to place his hand-carried trolley bag under the X-ray machine.

Cauguiran said Hoo, a resident of New York City, was stopped at the CRK customs clearance arrival area when the unusual weight of his bag aroused the suspicion of airport officials.

The packages of cocaine were hidden in a secret compartment in his bag.

Hoo was silent when questioned by members of the CRK Inter-Agency Anti-Drug Trafficking Task Force.

PDEA investigators are tracing his contacts in the country. Hoo was taken to an Angeles City prosecutor for inquest on Monday and was charged with violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act. He is detained at the Angeles City jail outside the Clark Freeport.

Cauguiran said he had placed the CRK on extra alert to prevent this international gateway from being used as a transshipment point for illegal drugs.

This was the first known incident of cocaine smuggling at CRK, which the government rehabilitated in 1992 from the former facility of the 13th US Air Force.

“CRK is a no-fly zone for drug traffickers,” Cauguiran said. “I want to believe that this is an isolated case but yes, we must always be on alert. The task force members must always be on their toes,” he said. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon