The Bureau of Customs (BOC) intercepted a shipment of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) worth more than P400 million at the Pair Cargo Warehouse in Pasay City.
BOC Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio said the seized drugs, declared as car spare parts, weighed more than 58 kilos and came from Guinea, Africa.
The contraband was discovered after Customs officers examined the shipment after receiving reports with regards to the shipment.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) confirmed that the confiscated white crystal substance was shabu with an estimated street value of P400.724 million.
Both the BOC and PDEA are currently conducting an investigation on the consignee who is set to undergo inquest proceedings for violation of Republic Act (RA) 9165 and RA 10863 also known as the Customs Modernization Act.
The BOC’s X-ray Inspection Project (XIP) and Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS) detected and examined the shipment and later found the contraband.
Based on import documents, the shipments arrived on March 15 from Diallo Sandaly of Conarky, Guinea and consigned to one Eduardo Fajardo of Quezon City.
The initial examination of the packages by the joint efforts of CIIS, Customs XIP examiners, and other BOC personnel found five boxes containing four pulley engines for a total of 20 engines.
The suspicion into the packages began after the shipment’s claimant presented two valid identification cards reflecting different names at the Pair Cargo Warehouse in Pasay City.
Caloocan City Mayor Dale Gonzalo Malapitan meanwhile applauded the buy-bust operation of the Caloocan City Police Station (CCPS) which led to the arrest of four suspects at Edsa cor. J. Mariano St., Barangay 95 on Monday, March 20, The said suspects were determined to be Sherwin Galope, 27 years old; Jose Gabriel Cuesta, 25 years old; Juan Mortera, 23 years old; and Eurica May Dela Cerna, 21 years old.
The suspects shall face charges in violation of Section 5 (Selling), Section 11 (Possession of Dangerous Drugs) and Section 13 (Possession of Dangerous Drugs in a proximate company of two or more) of RA 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Acts of 2002). With Jun David