Senate probes P6-B drug smuggling through Customs

National Bureau of Investigation personnel display hundreds of plastic bags of shabu, which is part of a P6-billion shipment seized from warehouses in Valenzuela City in May. INQUIRER FILE / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

The Senate blue ribbon committee will conduct an inquiry on Monday on the P6.25-billion worth of illegal drugs from China that were sneaked past the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in May.

The committee led by Senator Richard Gordon will probe how the drug shipment got through Customs. The House of Representatives conducted its own hearing on the matter last July 26.

On May 26, anti-narcotics operatives seized over 600 kilos of shabu or “metamphetamine hydrochloride” from separate warehouses in Barangays Paso de Blas and Ugong in Valenzuela City.

The National Narcotics Control Commission of China (NNCC) identified the suspects “Chen” and “Li” as the ones behind the shipment. Investigation revealed that they concealed the drugs in cylindrical roller printers the BOC allegedly cleared.

In the House hearing, Customs officials blamed the chief of the BOC’s risk management office, Larribert Hilario, for failing to stop the shipment’s entry as it did not undergo inspection.

Hilario has since been suspended from his post. CBB/rga