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LAPEÑA SAYS

P7-B shabu had no 'derogatory' info, undergone normal Customs process


The recently-discovered P7 billion worth of shabu smuggled into the country had initially no "derogatory" information and followed normal Customs clearance procedure, Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said on Sunday.

He made the clarification amid Senate President Vicente Sotto III's claim there could be conspiracy between government officials and notorious smugglers to sneak in illegal drugs.

In a text message to media on Sunday, Lapeña said the shipment discovered by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite passed through customs clearance and underwent X-ray scanning, which he said is the normal procedure for red-tagged shipments.

"[An] initial review of the transaction revealed that there was no discrepancy between the declaration of magnetic lifters and the findings in the X-ray slide," he said.

"[Without] any derogatory information, and following normal procedure, the shipment was processed and released," he added.

The P7-billion shabu haul was unloaded from four lifting equipment discovered in Cavite, which came with the lifters that yielded P4.3 billion worth of meth at the Manila International Container Port last Tuesday.

Lapeña stressed that there is no intention on the part of the Bureau of Customs to go into conflict with any other agencies.

"We have been firm in our resolve to fight the war on drugs together with our partner agencies. Our emphasis has always been on the timely sharing of intelligence [information] so our mechanisms in place can be utilized to prevent smuggling," he said.

"We understand the difficulties of our partner agencies and similarly we hope they understand ours as well. This problem is larger than all of us combined and through cooperation, the probability of success will be much higher," he added.

Lapeña vowed to further improve the Customs' clearance procedures while facilitating trades.

The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission, however, is set to hold a parallel investigation into the supposed conspiracy between customs officials and notorious smugglers which resulted in the successive entry of shabu shipments in the country. —Erwin Colcol/LBG, GMA News

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