MARIJUANA KUSH. The parcel seized by the anti-narcotics team from suspect Jude Paolo David Javier, 25, a job order employee of the city health office in Kidapawan City on Wednesday (July 27, 2022). The marijuana product has an estimated value of PHP1.3 million. (Photo courtesy of PDEA-12)
KIDAPAWAN CITY – Anti-narcotics agents have collared a government worker here and seized some PHP1.3 million worth of marijuana kush during an operation here, an official said Thursday.
In a statement, Director Naravy Duquiatan, of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency–Soccsksargen (PDEA-12), identified the arrested suspect as Jude Paolo David Javier, 25, a job order employee of the city health office.
Duquiatan said the suspect was nabbed Wednesday afternoon after claiming a parcel declared as a “cooking set” at the Kidapawan Postal Office.
“The operatives were already waiting in the vicinity for the claimant of the package before he was nabbed”, she said, adding that the parcel was traced containing illegal drugs through the intelligence section of the PDEA national office.
Working together with the PDEA-12 agents were operatives of the PDEA Central Office, Bureau of Customs -12, and the local police.
Found inside the parcel were 927 grams of marijuana kush with a street value of PHP1.3 million.
Duquiatan added that also found inside the parcel were two plastic bags containing 21 vape cartridges of yellowish substance suspected to be marijuana oil whose amount is yet to be determined.
“This is the biggest illegal marijuana kush seized by our operatives in the region, aside from vapes containing suspected yellowish marijuana oil which is the first here in our area,” she said.
Duquiatan said the parcel was shipped from abroad, but refused to divulge further information.
“This is an alarming situation of drug smuggling brought by some drug syndicates through online and other means of transaction, and is difficult to trace if we are not armed with reliable information and intel reports,” she said.
Duquiatan said she believes that Javier’s clients are young professionals, as marijuana kush cost less than shabu drugs.
“Marijuana kush are greenhouse laboratory formulated plants that are ten times stronger than the usual marijuana planted on land,” she said. (PNA)
