P3.11M Ketamine party drugs concealed in coffee sachets seized
A MAN who claimed P3.11 million worth of Ketamine party drugs concealed in coffee sachets was nabbed by a joint team from the Bureau of Customs-Port of NAIA (BOC-NAIA), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the NAIA-Interagency Drug Interdiction Task Group (NAIA-IADITG).
The claimant, identified as Kristopher Segumbang, was arrested for claiming 622 grams of the said party drugs during a joint controlled delivery operations in Caloocan City on May 17, 2021.
The BOC-NAIA said that at around 2 p.m. of said date, Segumbang, who is said to be an authorized representative of the consignee, a certain “Nick Dimagiba”, was arrested by the authorities for claiming the subject package which arrived last May 10, 2021.
The package came from Malaysia and was declared as “snacks.”
The seized illegal drugs were initially discovered when its package was subjected to non-intrusive x-ray scanning by the x-ray Inspection Project (XIP NAIA) and K-9 sweeping.
An examination conducted by the Customs Examiner revealed that 15 sachets of white coffee contained a total of 622 grams of Ketamine, classified as a dangerous drug under the R.A. 9165 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Ketamine, also known as “Special K” or “K” was originally created as anaesthetics but became commonly abused as “party drugs” for its tranquilizing effects. It was included in the list of Dangerous Drugs by the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) in 2005 under DDB Regulation No. 3.
The arrested claimant and seized illegal drugs are now under the custody of the PDEA.
The arrested suspect will be charged with violation of R.A. 9165 in relation to Section 1401 of the R.A. 10863 or Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
On May 11, 2021, the BOC-NAIA, PDEA and NAIA-IADITG apprehended two claimants of ecstacy at the Quezon City Postal Office.
