Customs agents assigned at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport have seized three shipments of shabu valued at almost P5.2 million.
The drugs, concealed in a birdhouse, shuttlecock casing, and figure trimmer waist twister, respectively, were about to be exported to Australia, Bahrain, and United Kingdom when the authorities intercepted them at the DHL warehouse in Pasay City.
On Friday, Customs NAIA officials turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency the three packages containing a total of 763 grams of shabu.
The authorities did not identify the exporters of the shipments. They said the three senders were residents of Makati City and Dasmarinas, Cavite, based on recovered documents.
Customs agents seized the contraband with the help of PDEA and NAIA Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Group (NAIA-IADIGT) operatives.
The Port of NAIA legal department is now readying criminal charges against the owners of the three shipments.
Officials said the owners will be held liable for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002 and RA 10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) of 2016, specifically Section 1401 (Unlawful Importation and Exportation) in relation to Section 119 (d).
The latest seizure came two weeks after the confiscation of a smuggled shipment of party drug Ecstasy worth P9.5 million, also at the airport.
Port of NAIA operatives also arrested the claimants of the package containing 5,637 tablets of ecstasy from Neuss, Germany.
Five months ago, Customs NAIA agents also intercepted a smuggled shipment of ecstasy worth P4.9 million and arrested one Ronron Salonga who had claimed the package at the Manila Central Post Office.
Salonga’s package, containing 2,878 tablets of ecstasy, was also misdeclared as women and kid clothes and shoes, and was sent by a certain “Mary Lumbao Edward” from the Netherlands.
The series of drug smuggling prompted the Customs-NAIA to intensify its campaign by subjecting more parcels to rigid document profiling, x-ray scanning, and physical examinations.
Port of NAIA district collector Carmelita Talusan said Customs personnel have been apprehending illegal drug shipments in compliance to the directive of Bureau of Customs commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero to secure the borders and the anti-drug campaign of President Rodrigo Duterte.
