The Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Clark has reported the apprehension of prohibited drugs amounting to around P141.038 million found in shipments originating from California and Las Vegas in the US.
The BOC said in a news statement on Thursday that through the continuous strict profiling of shipments and X-ray examination of express cargoes, Customs personnel at Clark, together with members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), was able to discover shipments containing prohibited drugs.
The bureau found in different shipments from the US, some 20,136 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu worth P136.924 million, and 200 pieces Methylenedioxy methamphetamine or ecstasy worth P340,000 hidden inside canned goods, as well as 3,165 kilograms of cannabis or marijuana worth P3.798 million wrapped in clothing.
The seizure of the prohibited drugs happened in a series of apprehension from December 2018 and January 2019.
In December 28, a shipment from Las Vegas, Nevada, which arrived at the Port of Clark was placed under alert order due to the anomalies in the contents noticed on the images captured during X-ray examination.
The K9 inspection and physical examination with the joints elements of BOC-Clark and PDEA Region III led to the discovery of five vacuum sealed plastic packs of crystalline substances and 200 pieces of orange and blue tablets found inside five cans of Italian peeled tomatoes under a shipment declared as clothing.
A narcotics analyzer was utilized by PDEA agents which registered a positive reading for shabu for the total 1,134 grams of crystalline substances and a positive reading for ecstasy for the total 200 pieces of orange and blue tablets.
On January 10, 2019, a shipment from California declared as used shirts was also subjected to X-ray examination where a high density of organic substances beneath the images of clothing was noticed by inspectors.
Physical examination was immediately conducted on the items which revealed a total of six plastic packs of kush weed wrapped in several pieces of clothing. PDEA agents used a narcotics analyzer which showed a positive reading for marijuana weighing a total of 3,165 grams.
In addition, on January 14, examiners found a total of 56 cans of pasta sauce which contained a plastic pack of crystalline substance for each can in a shipment from Nevada, with the drugs’ combined weight of 14,661 grams.
The seized prohibited drugs were turned over by BOC-Clark led by Acting District Collector Atty. Lilibeth Sumbilla-Sandag to PDEA Region III through Atty. Gil Pabilona on January 15, 2019.
On January 16, the joint efforts of the BOC and PDEA led to the arrest of two suspects in line with the drug shipments.