Government agents assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport have seized more than P3.9 million worth of shabu during a controlled delivery operation Thursday night in Las Pinas City.
The operation also resulted in the arrest of two individuals, one of them a Nigerian national, whom the authorities identified as the claimants of the seized smuggled shipment of shabu.
The package from Laos, which was misdeclared as a baby feeding bottle sterilizer, arrived at the Central Mail Exchange Center in Pasay City on Wednesday.
Prior to the entrapment, the Customs-Port of NAIA placed the shipment under profiling and examination. The authorities discovered 588 grams of shabu wrapped in aluminum foil and concealed inside the bottle sterilizer and dryer.
The Customs agents conducted the controlled delivery operation with the help from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and NAIA Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group resulting in the claimants’ arrest at Marcos Alvarez Avenue corner Veraville Homes in Barangay Talon Singko.
NAIA port officials temporarily withheld the names of the claimants, citing further investigation.
The suspects are now detained and would be charged for violating Republic Act 9165 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 in relation to Sections 119 and 1401 of RA 10863 also known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
Customs agents have been apprehending illegal drug shipments in compliance to the directive of Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero to secure the borders and support the anti-drug campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Early this month, the Port of Clark also seized a P3.4 million worth of shabu shipment smuggled from South Korea.
