With drug smugglers becoming more sophisticated, Senator Richard Gordon has asked the Bureau of Customs to tap expert X-ray machine operators as well as experts in detecting drugs and other contraband.
“The drug war has taken a different tone, not only here but throughout the whole world. The illegal drugs entered the country through heavy equipment that are more sophisticated so that even our X-rays—the X-ray technicians—should be taught. It slipped pass them,” Gordon said.
Gordon made the proposal following the discovery of illegal drugs inside electronic magnetic lifters shipped into the country.
The senator learned during a Blue Ribbon committee hearing on the P6.8 billion worth of smuggled drugs that the BOC does not have sufficient trained X-ray specialists to deal with such condition.
“It’s a new war on drugs that we’re fighting and we have to have new weapons. Not only should you upgrade your equipment, you have to have your people trained on how to operate the equipment,” he said.
Testifying before Gordon’s panel, Customs lawyer Ma. Lourdes Mangrobang said the empty magnetic lifters found in Cavite contained illegal drugs. However, her statement was countered by some of her colleagues.
“She still insisted on her assumptions notwithstanding the earlier pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte that the reported shabu allegedly contained in magnetic lifters is speculative,” the bureau said.
The BOC also reported that at least 105 container vans were illegally released from the Mindanao Container Terminal under the Port of Cagayan De Oro.