CIDG seizes P300T worth of suspected smuggled medicine

At least P300,000 worth of suspected smuggled and fake medicine were seized by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Wednesday night from an airfreight warehouse in North Reclamation Area in Mandaue City.

The medicine, contained in two boxes, were found to have been misdeclared by its shipper as medical supplies, clothes and shoes that are to be sent to other areas in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Chief Inspector Jacob Macabali, who led the operation, told reporters that the warehouse's X-ray machine operator became suspicious when the receipt declaration did not match with what he saw in the machine, prompting him to call the police.

The shipper was identified as Joey Fernandez of Aragon Street, Sta. Cruz, Manila.

The boxes were consigned to Nelisa Magdasal and Joseph Maribao, both residents of Cebu. But what puzzled the police was when they noticed that the contact numbers of the consignees in both boxes were the same.

Macabali believed that the names were fictitious.

Yesterday, the CIDG men, together with Salome Largo and Terry Ann Cuyos, the representatives of the Bureau of Foods and Drugs regional office, opened the boxes and found out that they contained thousands of vitamin, anti-biotic and anti-allergy capsules and tablets.

Chief Inspector Rex Derilo, operations chief of the CIDG-7, said they could not say whether the medicine are genuine because the BFAD personnel are yet to send samples to Manila for examination.

Macabali said two representatives of the alleged consignees identified as Margarrete Fua of Dumaguete and Edsil Cortez have claimed the seized boxes from the warehouse.

Macabali said the representatives claimed they were authorized by the consignees, who owned Pharmacia Maribao and Pharmacia Magdasal, to pick up the shipment. But they failed to show valid papers.

Macabali told The Freeman that because there were no representative of BFAD to open the boxes that night, they allowed Fua and Cortez to go home and asked them to come back in the morning. The two, however, did not show up the following day.

Cuyos and Largo also found out that the drugstores mentioned by the consignees' representatives were not registered with the BFAD.

Macabali said it looked like the medicene were fake based on the initial examination by the BFAD representatives.

The CIDG said three more unclaimed boxes at the warehouse with hold order from the Bureau Customs are yet to be inspected. These boxes, which were also declared as medical supplies, are consigned to Rita Apostol of Ormoc City and Elsie Omelig of Surigao City. - Edwin Ian Melecio/LPM