Customs personnel probed for P6-B shabu

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is investigating its personnel who might have a hand in the entry of a shipment containing around 604 kilos of shabu, with an estimated street value of P6.25 billion, into the country.

The illegal drugs were seized by anti-narcotics agents in two warehouses in Barangays Paso de Blas and Ugong in Valenzuela City on Friday.

“We are investigating how the contraband from China was smuggled into the country,” Neil Estrella, chief of the BOC investigation and intelligence service, told reporters yesterday.

Estrella said the importer of the shipment had been blacklisted by the BOC.

The cargo, which the importer declared to contain metal tubes, was not scanned by X-ray machines, Estrella said.

“The shipment entered through the ‘green lane’ and was not subjected to X-ray examination,” he said.

Estrella said the drug haul was a product of coordination among the National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and Valenzuela police station.

The information about the large shipment of drugs came from China, through its Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission.