Chinese national nabbed with shabu at airport

Liming Zhou of Xiamen, China has been detained at Mactan Cebu International Airport for possession of illegal drugs.

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu—A Chinese woman was arrested by Customs police at the Mactan Cebu International Airport shortly before noon on Wednesday after she was allegedly caught bringing in four kilos of shabu.

Zhou Liming, 27, was brought inside the Customs Office at the MCIA where she was to undergo interrogation.

She arrived at 11:30 a.m. from Xiamen, China through Hong Kong on board a Cathay Pacific flight with one light blue trolley bag.

While passengers were lining up at the x-ray machine at the arrival area, Olibert Estillore, K-9 officer of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, noticed Zhou looking so uneasy and kept going to the toilet.

When it was her turn, X-ray machine operator Haron Paragona of the Bureau of Customs, detected several packs inside her light blue trolley bag.

Zhou was asked to step aside as Customs personnel Ronor Alinsug and Albert Barliso inspected her bag and found several female dresses inside.

Alinsug and Barliso, however, noticed that there was a glossy plywood that served a compartment in her luggage.

Zhou looked pale when the two officers found several packs after destroying the compartment. The two K-9 dogs immediately sat after sniffing on the packs, indicating that these contained illegal drugs.

The woman burst into tears and was shaking when told that she had to be detained for bringing in illegal drugs into the country.

When the contents were tested, the Customs examiners found that the white powdery substance was methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.

The packs of shabu weighed 4.51 kilos which the PDEA pegged to be worth P6 million.

Jay Oyao, MCIA Customs officer-in-charge, said they were waiting for an interpreter to determine Zhou’s background and her contact in Cebu because the woman could only speak Mandarin.

But based on her passport, he said Zhou had been in the Philippines thrice.