PH to flag all shipments from Laos after P1.36-B shabu seizure -- DILG

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The Philippines will flag all shipments originating from Laos following the seizure of some P1.36 billion worth of shabu at a Manila port, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said Thursday.

"Ngayon ifa-flag na namin lahat ng shipment galing Laos, ifa-flag namin kung may drugs talaga kasi ginagawa nila tinatago nila kapag papunta rito," DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla said in an interview.

(Now we will flag all shipments from Laos, we will flag if there are drugs because they are doing it and hiding it when they deliver here.)

According to Remulla, the discovery of shabu concealed inside cardboard packaging was something he had not encountered before.

Drug syndicates may be looking for alternative routes to bring illegal drugs into the country, Remulla said, after authorities intercepted around 17 tons of illegal drugs in open waters.

Meanwhile, Remulla questioned why authorities had seized nearly one ton of illegal drugs through Philippine ports over the past four years but no similar seizures were recorded in the six years before 2022, except for the so-called magnetic lifter shipment.

"To prove to you na nakakalusot, the price of drugs in 2019 to 2020 was P3,800 per gram. Ngayon P6,800 per gram so umakyat ang presyo. Ibig sabihin supply is depleted, 'di ba bumaba," he said.

(To prove to you that it is slipping through, the price of drugs in 2019 to 2020 was P3,800 per gram. Now it is P6,800 per gram so the price has gone up. It means supply is depleted, hasn't it gone down.)

"Bakit nakakalusot at sino nagpapasulot dati sa ports ng Manila," he added.

(Why is it slipping through and who is allowing it at ports of Manila.)

On Wednesday, authorities seized some 200 kilograms of shabu worth P1.36 billion from a shipment originating from Laos at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) in North Harbor, Manila.

The shipment reportedly traveled from Laos to Haiphong in Vietnam, before heading to Hong Kong. The container van was transferred to another vessel in Hong Kong before being shipped to the Philippines.

Authorities are also probing the alleged links of several Filipinos to the attempt to smuggle 521 kilograms of shabu from Laos to the Philippines via private jet last October. — VDV, GMA News