CEBU CITY – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Central Visayas (PDEA 7), using the so-called controlled delivery operation, arrested a 30-year old man who was the consignee of a P5 million worth of ecstasy tablets delivered in Barangay Pasil, Cebu City on Monday afternoon, July 18.
Lunil Padin was cornered during a controlled delivery operation conducted by the PDEA 7 in coordination with the Bureau of Customs and the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Anti-Illegal Drug Interdiction Task Group.
In its website, the PDEA defines controlled delivery operation as a technique used when a consignment of illicit drugs is detected and allowed to go forward under the control and surveillance of law enforcement officers to secure evidence against the organizers of such illicit drug traffic.
Recovered from the suspect during the operation was a package containing 2,984 ecstasy tablets with an estimated value of P5 million.
The PDEA 7 said that the standard average price nationwide of ecstasy is P1,700 but in Cebu, the potent party drug is sold at P2,250 each.
The package containing the contraband was believed to have come from the Netherlands.
According to Daryl Panulaya, information officer of BOC, the agency had tried to communicate with the suspect for at least a week after a shipment where he was indicated as the consignee of a contraband that arrived at NAIA on July 10.
The package was declared to contain ‘women clothes.’
It was only last Monday when the suspect responded to BOC and confirmed the delivery.
Levi Ortiz, PDEA-7 director, said the suspect claimed that he was just ordered to receive the package by a friend who is currently jailed.
“We don’t know how true his claims are,” said Ortiz.