
P2.1-B smuggled shabu seized at Manila Port
A JOINT anti-narcotics operation conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and Philippine National Police resulted in the seizure of 278 kilograms of smuggled shabu valued at nearly P2.1 billion on Thursday at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) in Tondo.
Recovered inside a container cargo were 277,250 grams of shabu with a street value of almost P2 billion, PDEA chair Director General Moro Virgilio M. Lazo said yesterday.
He said the drugs were declared as Laminated Jerky Beef and Carne Seca consigned to Salesbeat Within OPC.
Members of the PDEA National Capital Region Interdiction Unit, the PNP Drug Enforcement Group headed by Colonel Dionisio B. Bartolome Jr., the NCR Police Office Regional Drug Enforcement Unit under Brigadier Gen. Jose Melencio C. Nartatez Jr. and the Bureau of Customs discovered the huge drug shipment at around 10 a.m. at the Designated Examination Area of the MICP’s Container Facility Station 3 in Tondo.
The drugs were found in 450 boxes containing 1,109 pieces of Cling Wrap and Carbon Paper Wrap.
Officials said the major drug haul was the result of a joint collaboration between the Bureau of Customs, the PDEA, the Philippine Coast Guard, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, and the PNP.
According to Col. Bartolome, intelligence agents of the PNP Calabarzon passed information to the PDEG which triggered joint efforts to exploit the information given in coordination with the PDEA and the PAOCC under Executive Director Gilbert DC Cruz.
“One of the outcomes of the collaborative effort is about a container van allegedly containing dangerous drugs, particularly shabu,” the PDEG director said.
He said that in coordination with the BoC, the suspected cargo was found inside the MICP, and a customs inspection was done to confirm if indeed the container van contained shabu.
Col. Bartolome said that an initial inspection yielded shabu packets, each containing approximately P1.4 kilo of shabu per pack in the beef jerky packages from among the 450 boxes inspected.
It was the latest major drug haul made by PDEA and the PNP under General Benjamin C. Acorda this year, coming on the heels of the discovery of 530 kilos of shabu worth P3.6 billion inside the warehouse of Empire 999 Realty Corporation in Purok 5, Barangay San Jose Malino in Mexico City in Pampanga two weeks ago.
The drugs had Thai markings and were mixed with ‘chicharo’ and dog food when they were discovered.
The two foiled major drug smuggling attempts have prompted authorities to keep a very close watch on major ports in the country where the drugs are passing through before ending up in warehouses being rented by syndicates.
Congress is also set to investigate a similar operation in Mabalacat City in Pampanga which led to the confiscation of 200 kilograms of shabu worth P1.3 billion. Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation found the drugs inside an abandoned red Toyota Avanza.
The wagon was found abandoned in a parking lot of a shopping mall in Bgy. Camachiles in Mabalacat City. However, there were reports that the drugs discovered inside the Toyota Avanza have turned out to be not real shabu.