Failure of intelligence allowed entry of P7-B worth of ‘shabu’ in Cavite–Lapena
FAILURE of intelligence among the Bureau of Customs (BoC), the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and other government agencies tasked to run after illegal drugs allowed 1 million tons of “shabu” worth P7 billion to enter the country.
Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapena admitted this in a hastily called press conference on Saturday after authorities discovered on Friday four magnetic lifters that were found positive for traces of illegal drugs in a warehouse at General Marian Alvarez in Cavite. They were similar to the two other magnetic lifters containing 500 kilograms of shabu worth P4.3 billion that were seized on Tuesday at the Manila International Container Port (MICP).
“Again, let me emphasize the importance of information sharing among agencies. The key here is timely information sharing between agencies. Proper coordination and intelligence sharing is crucial. I implore our partner agencies, primarily tasked to prevent and eliminate the presence of illegal drugs in the country, to immediately forward any information to us, so our mechanisms can come into play,” Lapena said, referring to PDEA.
The PDEA provided the advance information to Lapena, who used to head the agency before his appointment to the BoC, that led to the interception of the two magnetic lifters.
PDEA has a seaport interdiction unit in MICP and Port of Batangas. They were provided with office spaces by the BoC to ensure close coordination and cooperation on drug matters.
But Lapena was totally caught by surprise with the discovery in Cavite last Friday, which the BoC found out after an investigation that the cargo was entered through the MICP, and consigned to SMYD Trading owned by a certain Marina Dela Cruz Signapan with customs broker Katrina Grace Cuasay.
Custos sources said that Lapena had some misgivings against the PDEA because it did not give him the intelligence information as what it did in the first apprehension.
Lapena stressed that the BoC, being the frontiliner in the war against drugs, should have been involved in the Cavite incident and provided with the necessary information in time.
“The collaboration among all law enforcement agencies involved in the country’s fight against drugs is invaluable. This is the only key to our collective success. As I mentioned, we are fighting a war against a sophisticated, well-funded syndicate that have clearly developed methods and utilize tools to prevent detection by our scanners,” he added.
Based on record, SMYD trading had 140 importations from January to July 2018, all of which were tagged “red” or would have to pass through the customary x-ray.
Lapena said the broker declared the shipment as magnetic lifters and passed through the normal procedure. WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL
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