PDEA firm illegal drugs went through Customs

August 14, 2018

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) stood pat on their assessment about the alleged entry to the country of P6.8-billion worth of illegal drugs through the Bureau of Customs.

During the House committee on dangerous drugs’ hearing chaired by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, PDEA Officer-in-Charge Deputy Director General  Ruel Lasala said the four magnetic lifters allegedly contained illegal drugs.

“That is our assessment taking into consideration all the evidence and indicators we saw,” said Lasala.

“We are saying, sir, that all the circumstantial evidence we have gathered [indicate that] the contents of the metallic lifters were drugs, sir,” said Lasala.

Operatives from the PDEA regional offices and the National Capital Region (NCR) deployed two K9s and allegedly positively detected traces of the illegal substance.

Earlier, PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino, who was absent in the hearing. said the P6.8 billion worth of shabu was placed in four magnetic lifters in a warehouse in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite province on August 9.

Customs chief Isidro Lapeña during the hearing said swab tests by the Philippine National Police (PNP), PDEA, and the BoC ( Bureau of Customs) on the four pieces of magnetic lifters including the aluminum foils yielded negative results for shabu.

“On the discovery of four empty magnetic lifters in Cavite, PDEA alleged that the magnetic lifters contained 1 ton of shabu worth P6.8 billion and passed through Customs,” Lapeña said.

“This yielded negative result for the presence of dangerous drugs,” said Lapeña.

“As government authorities, we have to be prudent in providing unverified information to the general public to allay further fear or confusion,” said Lapeña.

PDEA claimed corrupt Customs officials of collusion in release of the shabu from Taiwan that was concealed in magnetic lifters used to handle materials, mainly scrap metal.

The shabu was transshipped via Malaysia and arrived at the MICT ( Manila International Container Terminal) on July 11. The Bureau of Customs released the shipment three days later.

Last week, PDEA intercepted one batch of shabu shipment worth another P4.3 billion. The drugs were also hidden in magnetic lifters found in an abandoned container van that arrived at the MICT on June 28. DMS