Drug smugglers continue to be creative as around P1-billion worth of shabu was discovered stuffed in aluminum pallets in a warehouse in Malabon City Thursday, the Bureau of Customs said.
At first look, no one would suspect that the slim bars of the aluminum pallets contain illegal drugs but when authorities started to disassemble and cut the bars, about 146 kilos of shabu were found. A total of 30 aluminum pallets were found in the warehouse.
Each aluminum pallet has about seven hollow bars and three or four of them contained illegal drugs while the others contained tapioca starch, which was found to be imported from Cambodia. Tapioca starch in this shipment was used as a ploy, the bureau said.
The drug shipment arrived and passed through the Manila International Container Port but since its arrival last Jan. 27, the shipment has been under Customs watch due to suspicion.
MICP District Collector Erastus Sandino Austria revealed that while they received information that a shipment of tapioca starch consigned to Goroyam Trading may contain illegal drugs, they forfeited the shipment and put it on auction to set up a trap for the smugglers.
“We take all reports of alleged existence of drugs seriously. That is why we immediately reviewed the shipments that passed through MICP and even subsequent shipments which arrived at the port after we received the intelligence report,” Austria said.
Through this method, the bureau was able to identify a shipment that fits the profile of the suspected drug importation. It was this importation, Austria said.
It was declared to contain 51,000 kilos of tapioca starch exported by HKSTC Trading Co. Ltd. in three units of 20-foot container vans.
The shipment was forfeited in favor of the government in March after the consignee failed to file an import entry with the BoC.
The BoC and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency inspected the three containers and found that they were positive for illegal drugs.
But instead of immediately confiscating the illegal shipment, they decided to allow the shipment to be auctioned off to draw out possible members of the drug syndicates who may be interested in bidding for the drug shipment.
During the public auction held last April 22, Goldwin Commercial won the bidding on the three containers of tapioca starch.
A background check on the winning bidder, however, showed that there was no evidence showing that the proprietors of Goldwin were involved in any drug syndicate or smuggling activities, the BoC said.
The shipment was claimed by Goldwin on May 22, prompting the authorities to conduct the joint operation at the warehouse of Goldwin Commercial in Malabon and discovered the hidden drugs in the pallets.
According to PDEA, this shipment of illegal drugs “is connected to PDEA’s Dasmariñas City, Cavite operation last Feb. 13 where they seized 36 kilos of shabu worth P244 million, and their operation in Tanza, Cavite last Feb. 3 where 274 kilos of shabu worth P1.9 billion was seized.”
The bureau has yet to disclose the personalities who will be charged for the drug shipment. (Betheena Kae Unite and Joseph Pedrajas)
