AGENTS of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested a physician and his daughter for alleged smuggling of COVID-19 medicine Tocilizumab in Cebu City.

NBI Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Eric B. Distor identified the suspects as Dr. Nelson Ong and his daughter Raisa Nicole.

The NBI-Central Visayas Regional Office (NBI-CEVRO) received information that a shipment of illegally imported Tocilizumab placed in a cold storage box was due to arrive from Manila to Cebu via a Philippine Airlines flight.

Tocilizumab is used for treatment of severe COVID 19 patients.

The shipment was consigned to a certain Raisa Ong, whose name had already cropped up in intelligence reports as one of the active distributors of Tocilizumab and other COVID-19 related medicines in Cebu.

Acting on orders from Distor, NBI-CEVRO operatives proceeded to the PAL Cargo arrival area at MCIAA Complex, Lapu-lapu City to validate and verify the information.

The operatives coordinated with cargo personnel and conducted a visual inspection of the target package, then requested the personnel to separate the cargo and put it in a secured place until the arrival of the consignee.

A Chinese looking female, later identified as Raisa Ong, showed up to claim the package and was accompanied by suspect Nelson Ong.

NBI-CEVRO operatives immediately approached them and requested to open the cold storage box, to which the suspects obliged.

The suspects opened the box and ten Tocilizumab vials as well as 25 boxes of Baricitinib, also a medicine for COVID-19, were found inside.

Upon inspection, the medicines appeared to be imported from India but no local importer or distributor and without the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved labelling and prints.

When asked for authority to import said medicines, the suspects could not present any document or license to import, distribute or sell the medicines, prompting the operatives to arrest them.

The suspects were presented for inquest before the Lapu-lapu City Prosecutor’s Office for violation of Republic Act 3720 as amended by R.A. 9711, otherwise known as the “Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009” in relation to R.A. 10863 (Custom’s Modernization Act).