INTERCEPTED. Customs officers discover cocaine in a shipment declared as hoodies and shirts at the Port of Clark on Nov. 22, 2023. The BOC on Monday (Dec. 4) said the parcel contained 135.24 grams of cocaine worth over PHP700,000. (Photo courtesy of BOC-Clark)
MANILA – Customs officers uncovered over PHP700,000 worth of cocaine declared as clothes in Clark, Pampanga, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) reported on Monday.
Port of Clark District Collector Erastus Sandino Austria, in a statement, said the parcel which contained 135.24 grams of cocaine worth PHP716,772 was intercepted on Nov. 22.
Records show that the shipment which was declared to contain "hoodies and t-shirts" from Los Angeles, California in the United States.
Austria said the presence of illegal drugs in the shipment was detected through K9 sniffing and x-ray scanning procedures.
The samples of the substance were taken and handed over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for chemical laboratory analysis, which was later confirmed as cocaine, a dangerous drug under Republic Act (RA) 916 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Austria issued a warrant of seizure and detention against the subject shipment for violation of RA 10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) in relation to RA 9165. (PNA)
