P1.5-M shabu seized in Zambo airport

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Police intercepted an estimated P1.5 million worth of high-grade shabu at the Zamboanga International Airport (ZIA) while it was being shipped as cargo parcel bound for Jolo, Sulu Wednesday morning.

Senior Inspector Rey Bassig, commander of the Aviation Security Group stationed at ZIA, said personnel of the Office of the Transport Security (OTS) manning the X-ray machine detected the illegal drug.

He said the OTS personnel noticed the suspicious parcel, which, upon inspection, was found to contain shabu, weighing about 200 grams.

The shabu was kept in plastic packs sealed within packs of powdered native coffee contained in a carton along with small boxes of cake flour mix.

Bassig said the parcel containing the shabu arrived here from Manila on Tuesday afternoon aboard a commercial passenger plane. Its shipper was identified as a certain Abdusahar Albi from Las Piñas and the consignee as one certain Nadzmir Muradjam of Jolo.

“When the parcel was attempted to be shipped on a commercial flight bound for Jolo, our OTS personnel discovered it,” Bassig said.

He said it was the fourth time they intercepted such a big volume of shabu using the forwarding scheme, concealing the illegal drug in packed powder milk or dairy products.

Bassig said they suspect the shabu could have come from a single drug syndicate, as the scheme in bringing in the illegal drug was the same.

Last December, the airport security personnel seized 19 kilos of shabu concealed in milk packs consigned to someone in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi.