Government agents on Friday arrested a 57-year-old man for smuggling prohibited drugs at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The drugs—composed of 50 tablets of Ecstasy and plastic sachets containing methamphetamine hydrochloride, locally known as shabu—was discovered inside the baggage, which was left behind at the airport on Jan. 2 by suspect Vicente Fernandez Jr.
As a standard operating procedure, duty guards who spotted unattended luggage called the attention of members of the Police-Aviation Security Group for verification of its content. The verification was made with the help of sniffing dogs.
Fernandez arrived at the Naia Terminal 3 last Tuesday but he returned Friday to claim his baggage at the airport’s lost and found division where he was arrested by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and Naia police personnel.
PDEA-Naia supervisor Gerald Javier said the identity of Fernandez surfaced after his passport was found inside the baggage.
The drugs were immediately brought to the PDEA main office for laboratory tests.
The suspect will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9165 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002. He is now detained at the PDEA’s headquarters in Quezon City.
Manila International Airport Authority general manager Eddie Monreal said his agency heightened vigilance in the campaign against illegal drug trafficking in a bid to discourage international and local drug syndicates from using the Philippines as a transshipment point or dumping ground for their illegal substances.
“No one will be spared from this anti-drug campaign – not even our own people. We will continue looking for them until we see them all behind bars. There is no place for them here in NAIA,” he said.
Last November, a tip from the United States government resulted in the arrest of a suspected Colombian drug mule who also tried to smuggle P8.8 million worth of cocaine at the airport.
The suspect, Alberto Pedroza Quijano, 67, who swallowed 79 rubber pellets of cocaine, was arrested at Terminal 3 by operatives of Airport Drug Interdiction Task Group.
The arrest came after the US government tipped off the airport officials about Quijano’s arrival in Manila on board Emirates Airline flight EK-332 from Dubai.
