BOC to inspect P2.2 billion shabu consignee’s other shipments

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) will inspect within the week two other shipments of the alleged consignee of 323 kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu valued at P2.2 billion from Mexico to determine if the shipments also contain illegal drugs.

Aside from the shipment of laminated beef jerky that arrived from Mexico on Feb. 24, which contained the shabu, there were two other shipments consigned to “Salesbeat Within OPC,” an insider told The STAR yesterday.

The two shipments, set for physical examination this week, arrived in late 2022 and early this year.

“Considering the large quantity of abandoned shipments, of which the number increases every day, it took us months to conduct a physical examination on these shipments. We were unable to open them sooner. There are also cases when the consignee does not claim or does not process the documents of their shipments,” the source said.

“So by the time we conducted backtracking as part of our investigation, it is only then that we discovered that there were two other shipments intended for the same consignee,” the source added.

The BOC is also gathering information and tracing the whereabouts of Salesbeat Within OPC’s owners.

The bureau is also checking on shipping firm Logistica Integral Aduanal Meyma and Aimee Express Logistics SA DE CV, which may be a trading company based in Mexico, that reportedly sent the shipment of laminated beef jerky to the Manila International Container Port.

“We are still checking if they sent the other shipments to the Philippines,” the source added.