PDEA: More shabu shipments have slipped Customs

MANILA, Philippines — At least five more shabu shipments could have slipped through the Bureau of Customs (BOC) prior to the seizure of around 500 kilograms of shabu at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) on Tuesday, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said yesterday.

PDEA chief Aaron Aquino said it is likely that the latest shipment of P4.3 billion worth of shabu was abandoned because “it was too risky, but the drug group could have gotten the other shipments.”

The contraband was hidden in two magnetic scrap lifters in an unclaimed 20-footer shipping container at the MICP.

“May be this was the last shipment and they abandoned it because of the risk. What is one shipping container anyway, if the other drug shipments have slipped past the BOC?,” Aquino said in a phone interview. 

He said they were conducting investigation into the alleged drug shipments. 

The BOC said the latest shipment was consigned to Vecaba Trading International, a business based in Sampaloc, Manila owned by Vedacio Cabral Baraquel.

Aquino said he has ordered the PDEA regional office to summon Baraquel, a government employee in Oriental Mindoro, to explain his alleged involvement in the drug shipment.

The PDEA chief said the contraband, which arrived in the country on June 28 came from Malaysia. But authorities believe that it was sourced from China. 

The anti-narcotics agency is also checking if international drug rings such as the Bamboo Triad and 14K or Hong Kong Triad are involved in the shabu shipment.