Evidence points to shabu in magnetic lifters

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Blue Ribbon committee yesterday found evidence that four empty scrap magnetic lifters seized by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) last month in Cavite contained several hundred kilos of shabu.

The committee, chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon, continued its inquiry into the supposed drug shipments that slipped past the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang, Customs deputy collector for passenger service at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, testified that the shabu shipment could have been detected if the BOC’s x-ray machine followed proper procedures in scanning the magnetic lifters that came from Vietnam through Taiwan.

“If you are properly trained, it’s SOP (standard operating procedure) for the x-ray operator to ask for the opening of the lifters. If you see images and there are compartments, or you see hollow parts, we should ask for a physical examination,” Mangaoang said.

Mangaoang, a former head of the BOC x-ray unit, volunteered to testify at the Senate hearing.

Earlier, she was asked by a group of BOC employees to undergo a lifestyle check as part of an anti-corruption campaign.

Mangaoang presented to the committee a set of images from the machine that scanned the magnetic lifters last July, which showed darkened portions.

She said the darkened portions indicated some items inside the lifters. She said it is possible that the images could have been darkened to make it difficult to determine if there was anything inside the lifters.

Even so, she said, the operators should have asked for physical examination of the lifters.

Mangaoang cited cases where drugs or firearms were found in imported cylinders and vaults.

She added that asbestos was found inside the lifters, apparently to prevent the drugs from getting burned because of the heat.

PDEA chief Aaron Aquino agreed with Mangaoang’s view that asbestos was placed in the magnetic lifters to protect the drugs.

During the hearing, a warehouse operator and a forklift operator testified that at least seven Chinese-looking nationals visited the warehouse in Cavite where the lifters were discovered by the PDEA.

The two witnesses said they were asked to go out of the warehouse while the visitors stayed inside for about four hours.

They said they heard the sound of the lifters being opened with an electric circular saw.

The visitors left and after a while a sport utility vehicle entered the warehouse. The witnesses could not say whether something was loaded into the SUV.

Aquino earlier said the four lifters were part of a drug shipment intercepted by PDEA agents at the Manila International Container Port on Aug. 7. Some 355 kilos of shabu were found in two magnetic lifters at the MICP.