Government agents seized 17.7 kilos of shabu worth more than P120 million, the second smuggling attempt by criminals, at the Clark International Airport this month, officials said Monday.
The contraband, according to Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña Jr., was hidden in parcels described by its owners in the manifest as chairs and bar tools.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Customs also announced the seizure of P4.5 million worth of smuggled onions from China declared as coffee mugs, saucer and decors at the Port of Manila.
Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said the goods, contained in three 40-footer containers vans were discovered after Customs authorities after X-ray scanning revealed suspicious image different to the declared items.
The containers declared as mugs, saucer, and decors made of ceramics, came from China, and consigned to Precious Prince Enterprises with office address in Parañaque City.
“These containers were subjected to a non-intrusive inspection by the X-ray Inspection Project, however, scanned image showed other items that do not correspond to the declaration which are mugs, saucer, and decors,” Lapeña said.
Lapeña said four packages bearing the same description as the parcels seized on June 2 arrived from California in Clark on June 5.
He added the parcels were consigned to Christian Santillan Frias, Robert Alejandro Nazareno, Dominic Espinosa Gallardo, all of Quezon City, and Gina Fernandez Santiago of Taguig City.
The senders were identified as Rania Frias, Maria Nazareno, Vanessa Gallardo, and Rania Fernandez.
“With the heightened border control against illegal drugs, the customs examiners conducted a profiling on the incoming shipments with description of goods and country of origin strikingly similar to the scheme of Port of Clark’s latest seizure,” said Lapeña.
The X-ray examination and K9 units and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency sniffing dogs all pointed to positive results for organic substances.
“After close coordination with PDEA, the four packages were subjected to 100-percent examination where the Customs examiners and PDEA agents found two packs of crystalline substances in each of the four boxes. The PDEA agents utilized a drug meter reader detector which registered positive for methamphetamine hydrochloride,” Lapeña explained.
The Customs operatives applied a controlled delivery scheme leading to the arrest of Everlyn Lunzaga who received the parcel consigned to Nazareno.
“We are suspecting that the sender of these packages is international drug cartels. Only recently, we put up several X-ray machines at the three terminals of Naia [Ninoy Aquino International Airport] to stop incidents of airport smuggling. Because of the stricter border protection in Naia, perhaps the drug smugglers are now diverting their smuggled and contraband goods in other airports such as Port of Clark,” Lapeña said.
Earlier this month, the authorities also used the controlled delivery tactic to arrest the culprits in the smuggling of illegal drugs worth P74.8 million in Clark.
The strict profiling of Customs personnel in Clark port also resulted in the seizure of the 11.5 kilograms of shabu concealed in separate parcels.
Authorities said the controlled delivery technic was used when a consignment of illicit drugs was detected and allowed to go forward under the control and surveillance of law enforcement officers in order to secure evidence against the organizers of such illicit drug traffic.
This operation has been proved effective in some countries in identifying and bringing to justice principals, organizers and financiers of the drug trade.
Lapena commended the Port of Clark led by district collector Lilibeth Sandag for their strict profiling and monitoring of parcels arriving in their port.
He also praised the men from Customs-ESS and PDEA’s Region Office 3 and NCR for successfully conducting three anti-drugs controlled delivery operations in one day.