South African caught at NAIA with ₱40M suspected shabu in backpack

A South African national was intercepted upon his arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) after he was discovered to be allegedly hiding six kilos of suspected shabu worth over P40 million in his backpack.

According to a report on “Saksi” on Tuesday night, the 64-year-old male suspect arrived at the NAIA Terminal 3 on Monday morning.

He was intercepted upon arrival after his black backpack was found to have concealed 6.006 kilos of suspected shabu worth P40.84 million.

The contraband was hidden inside improvised boxes wrapped with plastic and duct tape.

The illegal drugs were seized at the Customs Exclusion Room of the NAIA Terminal 3’s Customs International Arrival Area.

The NAIA Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group (NAIA-IADITG) led the interdiction operation with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) regional office in Metro Manila, Bureau of Customs (BOC), Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI).

Authorities also confiscated various non-drug items including travel documents, identification cards, mobile phones, assorted personal belongings, and foreign currencies belonging to the suspect.

The suspected shabu will be submitted to the PDEA Laboratory Service for confirmatory examination.

The foreigner is currently under custody and will face inquest proceedings for violating the provision of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 on the importation of dangerous drugs. — JMA, GMA Integrated News