Customs agents assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport intercepted a shipment of kush weeds and liquid marijuana worth P200,000 at the Central Mail Exchange Center in Pasay City.
NAIA Customs district collector Carmelita Talusan said her men in cooperation with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and NAIA Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group confiscated the parcel shipment misdeclared as “one pair of shoes and chocolate.”
Upon examination, the parcel from California, USA was found to contain four packs of kush weeds and 10 cartridges of liquid marijuana.
Talusan’s men “suspected the presence of prohibited substances due to the scent emitted by the parcel.” Previous apprehensions of marijuana were observed to have the same scent raising suspicion that the same was present in the parcel.
The authorities also arrested the claimant of the shipment identified as Xavier Martin Bulos, a resident of Sampaloc, Manila.
Bulos is now detained and was charged with violation of Republic Act 9165, also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 in relation to RA 10863 or the Customs Modernization Tariff Act.
Talusan warned the public against importing illegal goods as Customs and PDEA agents intensified their partnership in their anti-drug surveillance, intelligence, utilization of X-ray units and other equipment.
Last year, Customs agents also foiled an attempt of an international drug syndicate using the country’s postal system to smuggle liquid marijuana.
The authorities also arrested 27-year- old Filipino-American Hamre Tamayo Orion Alfonso, of Wisconsin, USA and temporarily residing at Merville Subd., Parañaque City, after he claimed the parcel of 30 vape cartridge containing the prohibited liquid substance from China at CMEC.
Based on documents, one Michael Arash Abedzadeh of Shanghai, China sent to Alfonso the said parcel which he misdeclared as chocolates when it arrived at CMEC in March last year.
According to PDEA, shabu, marijuana, and ecstasy are the top three narcotics distributed in the streets and these prohibited substances are manufactured by Chinese, Taiwanese and Mexican drug syndicates.
The authorities vowed the government’s crackdown on drug dealing in the country would continue with the goal of catching protectors and financiers of the illegal drug trade.