Bureau of Customs (BOC) agents from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) helped in the arrest of two claimants of three packages that turned out to contain P15.7 million worth of the "party drug" known as Ecstasy.
The claimants, identified as Rowena Canapit and Michael De Guzman, were nabbed during a controlled delivery operation for the packages, which contained a total of 9,243 Ecstacy tablets.
The duo presented an authorization letter from the supposed consignee, a certain Glory Joy Buzeta, in claiming the subject packages at around 1 p.m. Tuesday, May 11 at Quezon City Postal Office.
Aside from BOC-NAIA agents, members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), and NAIA Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group (NAIA-IADITG) also took part in the sting.
Records showed that the packages were shipped by a certain Agner Buzeta and Victor Martis from the Netherlands, who declared the items as "handbag and shoes”, "baby clothes", and “clothes”.
The Ecstasy tablets were initially discovered when the items underwent x-ray examination. Seeing the suspicious objects inside, the customs examiner subsequently conducted physical examination and found the tablets concealed in the false space/compartment of each side of the packages.
In order to find out where illegal drugs were headed to, the BOC under Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero assisted in the controlled operation that was primarily planned and conducted by the PDEA.
The consignee and other responsible individuals may face violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 in relation to Section 1401 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.