By Tracy Cabrera
APPARENTLY believing that government authorities are focused more on monitoring issues of national security concern, an overseas Filipino attempted to smuggle a huge cache of illegal drugs but was caught while entering the country through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
A joint team from the Bureau of Customs, the Philippine National Police–Aviation Security Group, and the NAIA Interagency Drug Interdiction Task Group intercepted the suspect, a 30-year-old woman, during routine screening at the international arrival area of NAIA’s Terminal 3.
The woman, who arrived from Brazil, was carrying more than ₱43 million worth of suspected cocaine in one of her luggages, which triggered a positive alert from a narcotics detection dog.
Further inspection uncovered three improvised pouches hidden in a false compartment. Field tests confirmed the substance as cocaine weighing about 8.19 kilograms.
