| Photo courtesy of PDEA-7
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A package said to contain key chains coming from the Netherlands arrived at the ports of Manila last September 22.
The shipment was addressed to a recipient in Malabuyoc town located on the southwestern coast of Cebu.
But the shipment drew suspicions from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) because it did not contain any metal when scanned upon its arrival at the ports of Manila.
Acting on BOC’s tip, personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) confiscated the package at the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost) office in Barangay Poblacion II in Malabuyoc town this Thursday morning, October 8.
It was found to contain 194 tablets of ecstasy, a party drug, and raw materials for the production of ecstasy weighing 151 grams. The shipment was estimated to be worth at least P843, 200.
PDEA 7 Director Levi Ortiz said that the package was addressed to certain Henrich Gambino through a certain Chari Anne Montejo who is from Barangay Poblacion I in Malabuyoc town.
Ortiz said they waited for Montejo to pick up the package at the Philpost office on Thursday morning but she did not show up.
They, later on, received information that Montejo was warned by a cousin, who works as a disc jockey in a high-end bar in Cebu City, against claiming the shipment because it contained illegal drugs.
“That raised a question as to why her cousin knew that the package contained illegal drugs,” said Ortiz.
Ortiz said that Montejo’s cousin works at a bar that is said to be owned by Gambino.
He said that on October 1, 2020, authorities also intercepted a shipment of party drugs that was also supposedly intended for the same bar.
PDEA-7 Ortiz said, will be sending an invitation asking Montejo, her cousin, and Gambino to appear at their office for questioning.
As of this writing, CDN Digital is yet to secure the statements of the three individuals. / dcb