Customs, PDEA seize 304 kilos of shabu in Bulacan raid

MEYCAUAYAN, Bulacan — Customs and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) agents seized 304 kilos of shabu with a street value of some P608 million during a raid in a warehouse here yesterday.

The shabu was hidden in a 20-foot container van which arrived from Thailand via the Manila International Container Port (MICP) last Feb. 6.

The consignee, Karen Young, was not around during the raid.

Police invited for questioning Customs broker Rey Varanan for his alleged involvement in the processing of the contraband’s documents.

Director General Anselmo Avenido of the PDEA said the shabu originally came from Laos and Cambodia and was hidden in 152 boxes containing wooden parquet. Two kilos of shabu were concealed in each box.

In seizing the shabu, PDEA agents coordinated with China’s Narcotics Control Commission, he added.

Customs Commissioner Antonio Bernardo was at the scene and he said, "we allowed the controlled delivery of the container van to Waretech Manufacturing Corp. in Meycauayan, Bulacan to unmask the person or persons behind the illegal drug trafficking in that province," he said. PDEA agents are set to arrest several persons involved in the smuggling of the shabu, he added.

Deputy Commissioner Ray Allas, chief of the Customs Intelligence and Enforcement Group, said the questioned shipment had been the subject of an alert order based on an intelligence report that it contained drugs.

"When the shipment arrived at the MICP last Feb. 6, we opened the container van and found the shabu packed in 152 boxes," he said.

"We returned the boxes inside the van and waited for it to be claimed by its importer or consignee. When it was released to the consignee/importer, our agents trailed it up to the Waretech Manufacturing Corp. in Meycauayan, Bulacan where it was forcibly seized and opened," Allas said.

Bernardo said Waretech Manufacturing Corp. at the Meycauayan Industrial Subdivision in Barangay Sto. Niño here, will now be banned from transacting business with the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

Bernardo said the identities of the people involved in the shabu smuggling will be revealed after they have been charged in court. The company’s owners will be charged by the PDEA for violating the country’s dangerous drugs law, he said.

Bernardo said BOC and drug enforcement agents earlier found 30 kilos of shabu in a container van parked beside the van where the 300 kilos of shabu were found promtping the agents to open all the container vans in the Waretech compound, he added. — With Rey Arquiza