Swab test can’t accurately prove presence of illegal drugs — PDEA chief Aquino

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino on Thursday claimed that a swab test cannot accurately prove the presence of illegal drugs in a container.

Aquino made the remark as he insisted that the four magnetic lifters that his agency discovered in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite contained shabu amounting to P6.8 billion.

The PDEA chief showed up at the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs motu proprio investigation into the recent shabu smuggling incidents in the country after the panel issued a "strongly-worded" letter for him to attend the hearings.

During the hearing, Aquino said PDEA and the Philippine National Police conducted a swab test on Wednesday on the two containers intercepted at the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

These containers, which are said to be connected to the four magnetic lifters found in Cavite, contained nearly 500 kilograms of shabu.

But results of the swab test showed that the two containers in MICP were found negative of shabu, Aquino claimed.

"So it doesn't mean that if you swabbed something and it's negative, there's no drugs there," he said.

The House panel asked Aquino to provide the results of the swab test of the two containers found in MICP.

In the previous hearing, Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña said the four magnetic lifters in Cavite were negative of shabu after conducting a swab test.

But Aquino maintained that these lifters were "positive" of illegal drugs.

"Kahit wala doon yung corpus delicti, it contained drugs because what we intercepted in MICP is identical and similar (to that of in Cavite). Anong pinagkaiba? Yung shabu lang ang wala," he said.

The PDEA's K9 units likewise twice responded positively to the four magnetic lifters, Aquino said.

"We all know that K9 [units] can detect scents 10,000 times better than a human being," he said. "Definitely, we believe in our K9."

Aquino also lamented the supposed lack of trust to him as regards shabu smuggling incidents like these.

"Precisely, it's unfair. Because I'm just telling the truth, and precisely, the truth and goodness will prevail," he said.

Before attending Thursday's House panel inquiry, Aquino went on leave  for a family vacation and attended a class reunion in the United States. — RSJ, GMA News