Government agents on Thursday seized another smuggled shipment of the party drug Ecstasy worth P1.8 million from the Netherlands.
The shipment of 980 pills of Ecstasy sent by a certain “U Janssen” and consigned to one Joey S. Ramos Jr. of Malate, Manila was misdeclared as “samples” at the Central Mail Exchange Center in Pasay City.
Agents of the Bureau of Customs-Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) seized the contraband in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group.
The authorities placed the parcels under x-ray scanning and 100 percent physical examination, and discovered three vacuum-sealed pouches containing gray, turquoise, and orange-colored pills.
Field test conducted at the PDEA Chemical Laboratory confirmed that the seized tablets were Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA), also known as Ecstasy or Molly, a party drug that killed five people during a rave party four years ago in Pasay City.
The contraband was immediately handed over to the PDEA on Thursday for proper disposition and for the filing of criminal charges against the owner for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, in relation to the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
The series of drug smugglings have prompted Customs-NAIA to intensify its campaign by subjecting more parcels to rigid document profiling, x-ray scanning and physical examinations.
Authorities said criminal syndicates still dare to smuggle prohibited drugs using the Philippine postal system.
Customs personnel have been apprehending illegal drug shipments in compliance to the Customs Commissioner’s directive to secure the borders and the anti-drug campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte.
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, according to PDEA.
