By Ariel Fernandez
The Bureau of Customs (BoC) turned over yesterday to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) P10 million worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu and kush weeds seized recently at the FedEx warehouse near the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
During a press briefing, District III Collector Carmelita Talusan said 2.06 kilos of shabu and 127.60 grams of kush weeds were sent separately on different dates by different senders but both came from California, USA.
The packages were consigned to a certain Savannah Valdez of General Trias, Cavite, and Emmer Soncruz Medina of Quezon City, that arrived on March 28, 2018 and April 18, 2018, respectively.
Talusan said the stuff concealed in two boxes declared as toys yielded unbranded, colorless crystalline substance when inspected by customs examiners.
The airport customs official added that both boxes underwent x-ray scanning and rigid inspection after no one claimed it. It was later subjected to initial drug test which confirmed that the packages were positive for illegal drugs.
Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña reminded the Customs rank and file that the bureau’s task is not only to collect and hit its revenue target but also “to intensify BoC’s campaign against the smuggling of illegal goods in the country.”
The stimulant was usually produced by syndicates in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. But some syndicates in the United States, Lapeña said, have been manufacturing methamphetamine due to its being a “lucrative business.”
