CEBU CITY—Non-bailable charges will be filed against the sender and the receiver of the P81.6-million shabu shipment that was seized in Mandaue City last Saturday.
While no arrest has been made yet, the sender and the receiver of the contraband will be charged for distribution and delivery of illegal drugs, said Levi Ortiz, regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Central Visayas (PDEA 7).
“These are non-bailable offenses,” said Ortiz.
The PDEA 7 is withholding the names of the persons behind the shipment to avoid hampering operations to arrest them, said Ortiz.
Upon checking, Ortiz said that recipient of the shipment was included in the drug watchlist of PDEA 7.
Ortiz revealed that shortly after the drug shipment was discovered, PDEA 7 agents went to the house of the receiver of the shipment, but the person was no longer there.
The drug shipment was discovered when a drug-sniffing dog sat on a box while the PDEA 7 agents and police were conducting a routine inspection of a warehouse in Mandaue.
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“Right after the discovery, our agent went to the house but no one was there. It means that there was a spotter. The moment our drug-sniffing dog sat on the box, the receiver of the shipment was immediately tipped off,” said Ortiz.
The PDEA 7 was not discounting the possibility that some workers of cargo forwarding companies were in cahoots with illegal drug personalities. But in this case, the cargo forwarding company was cooperative in the investigation.
“That’s why were able to check the newly arrived shipment because the company was cooperative,” said Ortiz.
Investigation showed that shipment came from the National Regional Region (NCR).
The shipment was shipped by land from NCR to Bicol. From Bicol, it was brought to Samar then to Ormoc and then to Cebu.
Ortiz said the drug shipment was not detected since it left from NCR, and was shipped by a cargo forwarding company.
“The delivery was through a courier service so that was an essential item. The company delivered the shipment in good faith since it had a sender and recipient,” said Ortiz.
“The illegal drugs were well-concealed. It was wrapped with a rubber material and was stuffed in spotlights that’s why it was not detected by ordinary x-ray machines. Good thing here in Cebu we have modern scanners so we were able to detect the organic substance,” said Ortiza.
From the warehouse in Mandaue, the shipment was brought to Pier 3 terminal in Cebu City where the organic substance was detected by x-ray scanners.
Ortiz said the shipment came from international drug ring Golden Triangle whose members are from Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Laos and Burma.
“These places have rogue states where there are undesirable individuals who can put up shabu laboratory,” said Ortiz.
One of the indications that the seized shipment came from the Golden Triangle was that the illegal drugs were wrapped in Chinese tea packs, Ortiz said.
The PDEA 7, in coordination with the police and the Bureau of Customs, are taking steps to prevent the smuggling of illegal drugs into the country.
“We are taking some measures to intercept these drug shipment but we won’t elaborate to avoid detection by drug syndicates,” Ortiz said.