TWO successful ‘controlled delivery operation’ jointly conducted by the Port of NAIA, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the NAIA Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group (NAIA-IADITG) in less than a week resulted to the successful arrest of 3 suspects and the recovery of illegal drugs worth more than P18 million.
NAIA district collector, Carmelita ‘Mimel’ Talusan, in a report to customs commissioner, Rey Leonardo ‘Jagger’ Guerrero, said the first operation occurred last May 11, 2021, when suspects ‘Rowena Canapit’ and ‘Michael de Guzman’ claimed the package consisting of 9,243 pieces of ‘Ecstasy’ party drugs worth more P15.713 million at the Quezon City Postal Office.
Records show that the packages were shipped by a certain “Agner Buzeta” and “Victor Martis” from the Netherlands and declared as “Hand Bag & Shoes”, “Baby Clothes” and “Clothes”.
The tablets were initially discovered after X-ray images of the shipment yielded “suspicious images” that prompted the attending customs examiner to conduct a 100 percent physical examination.
The party drugs were found concealed in the false space/compartment of each side of the subject packages.
On the other hand, suspect Kristopher Segumbang was nabbed past 2:00 pm last May 17, 2021 in Caloocan City after claiming a separate package of 622 grams of ‘Ketamine’ party drugs worth P3.11 million on behalf of the purported consignee, one ‘Nick Dimagiba.’
Talusan said the shipment arrived from Malaysia last May 10, 2021 with the sender that arrived from Malaysia last May 10, 2021, declared as “snacks.”
Ketamine, also known as “Special K” or “K” was originally created as anesthetics but 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 drugs were also initially traced thru after passing thru the bureau’s X-Ray examination hidden in 15 sachets of coffee.
‘BATAS’ increases smuggling cases to 34 thus far
Meanwhile, the bureau’s Action Team Against Smugglers (BATAS), a unit under the Revene Collection and Monitoring Group (RCMG) under deputy commissioner Vener Baquiran, announced the filing of two more smuggling cases before the Department of Justice (DOJ) last May 14, 2021.
The cases, the official added, increased to 34 the number of smuggling cases BATAS have thus filed this year.
Baquiran, in a statement, identified the accused as the officers and customs brokers of ‘Mega Precision Corporation’ and ‘VMP Trading.’
Mega Precision stands accused of illegally importing 2,000 pieces of aluminum profiles worth more P821,462, that arrived last August 16, 2018 at the Port of Manila.
MVP, on the other hand, was accused of misdeclaring P1.303 million worth of various ‘airsoft guns’ and accessories on the shipment’s arrival at the Manila International Container Port last December 14, 2020.