At least P120M worth of shabu intercepted in Clark airport

Bureau of Customs intercepts four packages from California, United States containing 17.7 kilograms of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P120.36 million at the Port of Clark in Pampanga on June 5, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Bureau of Customs)

Four packages from California, United States containing 17.7 kilograms of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P120.36 million were recently seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) at the Port of Clark in Pampanga.

The parcels, which were disguised as chairs and bar stools, arrived at the Clark Freeport Zone last Tuesday, June 5, 2018, the BOC said.

According to the BOC, joint elements of Customs Anti-Illegal Drugs Interdiction Task Force (CAIDTF) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Regional Office III delivered one of the packages to an indicated delivery address, and led them to arrest Everlyn Lunzaga, who received the parcel consigned to a certain Robert Alejandro Nazareno.

Apart from Nazareno, other consignees of the packages were identified as Christian Santillan Frias, Dominic Espinosa Gallardo, and Gina Fernandez Santiago; while the senders of the packages were identified as Rania Frias, Maria Nazareno, Vanessa Gallardo, and Rania Fernandez.

“With the heightened border control against illegal drugs, the customs examiners conducted a profiling on the incoming shipments with description of goods and country of origin strikingly similar to the scheme of Port of Clark’s latest seizure,” BOC Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said in a statement issued on Monday.

Bureau of Customs intercepts four packages from California, United States containing 17.7 kilograms of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P120.36 million at the Port of Clark in Pampanga on June 5, 2018. (Photo courtesy of Bureau of Customs)

Lapeña said they suspected the existence of illegal imports as they were similar with previously intercepted packages – chairs and stool bars containing shabu.

“After close coordination with PDEA, the four packages were subjected to 100% examination where the customs examiners and PDEA agents found two packs of crystalline substances in each of the four boxes,” Lapena said.

“The PDEA agents utilized a drug meter reader detector, which registered positive for methamphetamine hydrochloride,” he explained.

The BOC chief said the sender of the packages might have opted to use other airports, as the agency has recently installed additional x-ray machines in all three terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

“We are suspecting that the sender of these packages is international drug cartels. Only recently, we put up several x-ray machines at the three terminals of NAIA to stop incidents of airport smuggling,” Lapena said.

“Because of the stricter border protection in NAIA, perhaps the drug smugglers are now diverting their smuggled and contraband goods in other airports such as Port of Clark,” he added.  /kga