Agents from the Bureau of Customs, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and police seized one kilo of shabu worth P6.8 million at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and arrested two persons believe to be members of a drug syndicate.
NAIA Customs district collector Carmelita Talusan identified the two suspects as Edison Chua and Brian Bantegui.
The package that contained shabu was consigned to Chua and was delivered to him at a sports bar in Makati City. His companion, Bantegui, was also arrested.
PDEA said they had intercepted the drugs at the FedEx warehouse but allowed the package to go forward under the control and surveillance of law enforcement officers to secure evidence against the consignee.
The shabu was concealed in a water filter shipped from San Antonio, Texas.
The consignee and the seized shabu were turned over to the PDEA for inquest proceedings for violating laws on illegal drugs and smuggling.
Last week, the BOC arrested a Filipina passenger for trying to smuggle in six kilos of shabu in her backpack worth P40.8 million at the NAIA, the biggest seizure at the airport yet.
The suspect—Marie Ruzol, a resident of Marikina City—was arrested at the NAIA Terminal 3 after she arrived on board Cebu Pacific Air Flight 5J-258 from Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Talusan said similar shipments of shabu from Siem Reap, Cambodia were also seized in Terminal 1 and in Terminal 3 in October.
Meanwhile, the National Capital Region Police Office arrested six people for drug dealing and seized more than P6 million worth of shabu in three separate police operations in Manila.
First to be arrested was Monawara Pakiang, 26, a native of Maguindanao and resident of Salas Street, Malate, Manila. The suspect was arrested in a buy-bust operation in front of Luneta Park along Kalaw Avenue around 3 p.m. Sunday.
A follow up buy-bust operation the next day in front of Banco de Oro in Harrison Plaza along F.B. Harrison Street resulted in the arrest of two other suspects—Sarah Sally alias “Sarah,” 22, and Sabel Gutirez, 25, both natives of Maguindanao and residents of Estrella Street, Pasay City.
On the same day, the NCRPO and Manila police operatives also arrested three other suspects Anowar Mocamad Usman, 31, and Tato Ameril Buisan, 21, and Fatima Garcia Sugarol, 29.
The suspects are now detained at the NCRPO Regional Drug Enforcement Unit in Taguig City.
