THE Bureau of Customs announced the arrest of two suspected drug couriers of a still unnamed drug group, a mother and her son, while trying to sneak in 25 kilos of shabu worth P170 million at Pier 5, Cebu City, hidden in their vehicle.
In a press statement on February 9, Port of Cebu district collector, Felipe Geoffrey de Vera, in his report to Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio, said the successful interdiction was done thru the Seaport Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group-VII (SIDITG-VII).
De Vera said the task group was conducting a random inspection of a merchant vessel (RORO) resulting to the flagging down of a pearl red Mitsubishi Mirage with the suspects on board.
A K9 unit sweep detected the presence of illegal substances inside a carton. On further examination, the carton was found to contain 25 plastic packages of shabu leading its immediate seizure and the suspects’ arrest who were not named in the BOC statement.
The SIDITG-VII is composed of the BOC-Port of Cebu, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region VII, Philippine Navy, Cebu Port Authority, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine National Police (PNP) Maritime Group, PNP Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit, and Cebu City Police Station 4.
De Vera commended the collaborative efforts of all involved agencies, emphasizing the port’s unwavering commitment to intelligence-driven monitoring and inter-agency coordination.