The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has seized 1,187.1 grams of cocaine worth more than P6.2 million stashed inside the rims of three wheelchairs at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga.
The contraband was discovered in a shipment declared as “mini -sumatic wheelchair caster,” which arrived on January 13 from Tanzania.
The shipment was subjected to the usual K9 sniffing and x-ray scanning procedures and physical examination based on information from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
The examinations disclosed that the three wheelchair casters were filled with a white powdery substance inside the wheels.
“Samples were taken to the PDEA for chemical laboratory analysis, and the shipment yielded positive for cocaine, a dangerous drug under Republic Act (R.A.) No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002,” the BOC said in a statement.
BOC collector John Simon issued the warrant of seizure for the shipment pursuant to the bureau’s continued program to stop the entry of illegal drugs into the country.
Newly appointed Customs commissioner Bienvenido Rubio vowed to be vigilant on the various modes of concealment used by unscrupulous individuals to smuggle illegal drugs into the country.
