PDEA thanks Vietnam counterparts for info on shabu shipment

PHILIPPINE Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Aaron Aquino thanked their counterparts in Vietnam for the information that led to the discovery of one of the biggest drug shipments smuggled into the country.

On Friday evening, March 22, the PDEA announced the confiscation of 276 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) worth over P1.8 billion in a container at the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

At around 2:00 p.m. of that day, Aquino said they received information from their counterparts in Vietnam that a container carrying a huge amount of illegal drugs had arrived in the country from Ho Chi Mihn City.

Aquino said they coordinated with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in locating the said container.

The shipment, which was declared as plastic resin, arrived in Manila on March 17 and was left uncl ai m ed .

The consignee, Wealth Lotus Empire Corp., had not claimed it. Wealth Lotus is now under investigation.

Aquino believed that a Chinese drug syndicate was responsible for the illegal shipment. He said the Chinese are not afraid because there is no death penalty in the Philippines.

“They will never stop trafficking and smuggling illegal drugs in our country. They will never stop putting up drug laboratories in our country. When we interrogate Chinese chemists, or anyone involved in the illegal drug trade, the first thing they tell us is that there’s no death penalty in the Philippines,” he said. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo/ SunStar Philippines)