Consistent to its mandate in protecting the borders against prohibited drugs, the BOC Port of Clark, under the leadership of District Collector Ricardo Uy Morales II, CESE, uncovered 614 grams of Shabu with an estimated value of P4.237 million concealed inside two oven toasters last June 27, 2023.
The said illegal drugs were found in a shipment declared as “stainless steel two slice bread toaster” from Arizona, USA, through strict profiling of inbound shipments by customs personnel.
The shipment was likewise tagged as suspicious by the X-ray Inspection Project (XIP) personnel, and subjected to K9 sniffing by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) K9 Unit, which gave positive indications for the presence of dangerous drugs.
A physical examination was immediately conducted by the assigned customs examiner in the presence of the media and a barangay kagawad, and representatives from the Customs Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Force (CAIDTF), Enforcement and Security Service, Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service, XIP, and PDEA.
The examination led to the discovery of four pouches of white crystalline substances concealed inside two “dear morning” brand oven toaster. A field testing was conducted on the substance by CAIDTF Clark personnel through a Raman Rigaku Spectrometer which yielded positive reading for “Methamphetamine”.
Samples were turned over to the PDEA for chemical laboratory analysis, which later confirmed the same as Methamphetamine Hydrochloride or commonly known as “Shabu”, a dangerous drug under the Republic Act (RA) No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
A Warrant of Seizure and Detention was immediately issued by District Collector Morales against the shipment after finding probable cause for violation of Section 118 (g), 119 (d) and 1113 par. (f), (i), and (l)-(3) and (4) of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act in relation to R.A. No. 9165.
“The Port of Clark has been consistently strengthening our intelligence and profiling capabilities to stop these illegal drug smugglers from ruining the lives of many Filipinos and we owe it to our vigilant personnel this accomplishment,” said District Collector Morales.
“The Bureau of Customs implements strict border security measures to combat illegal drugs. Rest assured that we are closely coordinating with our counterparts to prevent the entry of prohibited drugs as we remain firm with the directives of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.,” said Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio.
