Shipload of shabu glides off Batangas port; BOC blamed

A shipload of metamphetamine hydrochloride commonly known as shabu loaded on a Chinese vessel was able to slip through the port of Batangas due to alleged bureaucracy being enforced by Customs personnel at the said port.

This came after police operatives who have advanced knowledge about the impending drug shipment, were barred by Bureau of Customs personnel under Customs collector Napoleon Morales, from immediately boarding to search the Chinese vessel, M/V United Talent.

Camp Crame-based policemen rushed to Batangas last Friday afternoon following confirmed reports that an initial 30 kilos of shabu were unloaded from the said Chinese vessel. Upon reaching the port, police agents spotted a Chinese vessel anchored some three kilometers away from the pier. They immediately coordinated with Customs personnel to board the vessel and inspect it but they were barred from doing so in the absence of Morales who left his office.

It was learned that Morales was the only person in the Batangas port who could issue the police clearance to board the vessel.

"They (Customs personnel) then required us to submit a written request to board the vessel for the approval of Morales the next day," a police agent said.

After having been given a run-around, police agents left the place leaving their own security detail at the Batangas port.

They returned the next day with a prepared document to board the vessel but were again informed by Customs personnel that Morales was still out and will be back at his office in the afternoon.

"What dismayed us most was when we were informed that the Customs police were already aboard the Chinese ship searching for the hot cargo without even informing our ground personnel in the area," an irate police agent said.

When the police team protested the Customs police’s action, they were allowed to board the vessel only to discover that the ship was already empty of its alleged "hot" cargo.

"The manner that customs personnel in Batangas acted on the information is highly questionable considering that they were informed that the group will be back the next day for the drug-bust operation," the police official said.

A Camp Crame-based police official also said they are submitting a report to the Customs bureau of the actuations of its personnel in the port.

"We have reasons to believe that more than a ton of shabu landed outside the Batangas port last Friday night, as per account from local fisherfolk," the official said.

Fishermen and motorized banca operators reported to the police they have ferried ashore sacks containing crystalline substance from the said Chinese vessel on Friday night.

The information was bolstered when a civilian anti-narcotics agent informed Camp Crame authorities that he was with a group of big-time drug traffickers who withdrew an initial 30 kilos of shabu from the vessel.