BAGUIO CITY – The claimant of some P3 million worth of party drugs was arrested by combined operatives of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Cordillera office of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA-CAR) during the implementation of the controlled delivery operation Along Ambuclao Road, Gibraltar, here, Thursday afternoon.
PDEA-CAR regional director Gil Cesario Castro disclosed that a certain Elisa Aguirre Millare, purported authorized representative of the consignee Joyce Ann San Antonio, claimed the alarmed parcel declared as bed sheets with some 1,783 pieces of ecstasy tablets or party drugs who was immediately apprehended after claiming the same.
BOC records show that the controversial parcel arrived at the central mail exchange center last July 13, 2021 from Neuss, Germany and was declared as containing bed sheets, children’s pencil and a pair of shoes.
Castro disclosed that the seized illegal drugs were discovered by the BOC during the non-intrusive x-ray scanning of the said parcel by the x-ray inspection project and K-9 sniffing dogs.
Upon 100 percent physical examination conducted by the assigned customs examiner on July 14, 2021, the subject package was found to contain the illegal party drugs in assorted colors.
The PDEA-CAR official claimed that samples of the party drugs were immediately referred to the agency for the conduct of laboratory testing and chemical analysis which later confirmed that the sized tablets have methylenedioxymethamphetamine or commonly known as ecstasy classified as dangerous drug under the pertinent provisions of Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law.
He stated that the claimant was taken into custody by PDEA-CAR and is now undergoing custodial investigation and eventual inquest prosecution for violation of pertinent laws, rules and regulations.
Castro pointed out that the arrest of the purported claimant and the seizure of the illegal drugs serves as a warning to all individuals and entities engaged in unscrupulous activities that the BOC, PDEA and other law enforcement agencies will continue to protect the national against the illegal importations of illegal drugs and ensure that violators of law will be held accountable for their illegal activities.
The operation was successfully executed through the active participation of the BOC – Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) inter-agency drug interdiction task group, BOC under the leadership of Rey Leonardo Guerrero, Port of NAIA and PDEA-CAR.
According to Director Castro, PDEA-CAR will conduct further enhanced intelligence assessment to be able to ascertain the degree of influence of the individuals that attempted to ship to the city the imported illegal drugs so that appropriate strategies will be immediately laid out to avert the plans of illegal drug syndicates to use the city as a transshipment point of the party drugs.
Further, PDEA-CAR is looking into the possibility that the arrested claimant is also the alleged consignee of the parcel containing the illegal drugs which were declared a certain Faustina Obobo from Germany, thus, the need to subject the said individual to further interrogation while in custody of the agency. By HENT