P24-M COCAINE AT NAIA. NAIA anti-narcotics authorities examine the more than P24 million worth of cocaine found inside the luggage of a Filipina who arrived in Manila from Sierra Leone on Thursday evening.
Filipina traveler caught with P24-M cocaine at NAIA
A 29-year-old Filipino woman who attempted to smuggle more than P24 million worth of cocaine was arrested Thursday night at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said the suspect was arrested by the NAIA Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group at the international arrival area of Terminal 3 at around 8 p.m.
The suspect yielded 4.57 kg. of cocaine, with a standard drug value of P24.2 million, found concealed in two bags, along with mobile phones, travel documents, and identification cards.
The operation happened at the customs exclusion room at NAIA Terminal 3, where a Customs X-ray inspector noticed during scanning that the suspect’s baggage contained a suspicious substance.
A K9 inspection indicated the presence of narcotics inside the baggage, prompting authorities to open it. The powdery substance they discovered was later confirmed as cocaine.
Based on her flight details, the suspect arrived via Ethiopian Airlines from Sierra Leone in West Africa with a connecting flight in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia bound for Manila.
The Bureau of Immigration Anti-Terrorist Group (ATG) head Bienvenido Castillo III said the suspect’s flight pattern prompted them to recommend that she be inspected by members of the NAIA drug interdiction task group (DITG).
The seized drugs were brought to the PDEA for documentation and disposition procedures.
The suspect was charged with violations of Republic Act (RA) 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002), and RA 10863 (Customs Modernization and Tariff Act).
