Substance not drugs - PDEA

CEBU, Philippines - Negative.

These were the findings of the laboratory of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Manila, which checked the three kilos of powdery substance that were confiscated from two Chinese nationals the other day.

The PDEA laboratory found no illegal drugs or precursors to illegal drugs in the three packs that were found in the luggage of one of the suspects arrested at the Mactan Cebu International Airport upon their arrival from Hong Kong.

PDEA chemist Shaila Seville reported that the samples weighing a total of 7.7376 grams were taken separately from the three unsealed transparent plastic sachets, do not contain dangerous drugs.

The findings of PDEA apparently shocked some of the officials of the Bureau of Customs in Cebu.

The Customs officials, however, said that they cannot dispute such findings since the PDEA conducted the test and not them.

Ester Nario, officer-in-charge of BOC sub-port of Mactan said if that is the findings of PDEA, then let it be.

The substance was initially tested for ephedrine at the airport in front of officials of the Customs and PDEA as well as the media.

The chemist, who conducted the test at the airport, explained that the change in color of the substance in the test tube to sky blue indicates the presence of ephedrine, which is an ingredient for methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.

The chemist, however, explained that findings from such test are not yet conclusive, which was the reason why the confiscated powder was sent to Manila for testing.

 The Enforcement and Security Services of the Bureau of Customs in sub-port Mactan in a report to ESS Commander Jerry Arizabal said that PDEA dogs sniffed the plastic sachets that contained the suspected dangerous drugs and reacted positively.

Arrested were Xuiyu Tan, 27 years old, and her companion, Iek Man Wong, 55 years old.

The two reportedly have regularly traveled to Cebu from Hong Kong.

Tan explained to authorities at the airport that there is nothing wrong with what she was bringing as the substance is used as preservative for bean sprout locally known as taogi.

The three kilos of powder that were found in Tan’s luggage were not what originally caught the attention of the Customs personnel.

It was the US$20,000 that Tan had in her possession, which is a violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Law.

BOC- Cebu district collector Ronnie Silvestre will be issuing a warrant of seizure and detention (WSD) against the said amount for violation of Central Bank Circular No. 507 series of 2006 in relation to Section 2530 (f) and (l) of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines.

Tan, who was caught bringing in the money failed to declare such amount before Customs authorities.

The money is in the custody of Customs’ cashier.

Turn over

As the powder confiscated from them was found negative for illegal drugs, Tan and Wong have been turned over by the PDEA to the custody of the BOC.

PDEA-7 Regional Director Adrian Alvariño said even if Wong and Tan are free from a possible drug case, they are still expanding their investigation and it is up to the BoC to file charges against them.

The substance confiscated came from the Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, a public university in Jinshan, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.

Samples of the substance will be submitted to the Food and Drugs Administration to determine whether it is beneficiary to the health or not.

“We need to know if this powdery substance is used in food and if it is harmful to our health. Lisod na basin kita ang mangasakit,” Alvariño said.

Alvariño also said that the canine unit’s positive reaction was natural as what it is trained for but the dog’s smell can be triggered by other stimuli.

“Sometimes canine units can be wrong. There are some stimuli in the area like perfumes plus daghan pang tao ang nagagi-agi,” the official said.

“We are just doing our job and we have to be fair with them,” he said, assuring that there was no swapping of evidence since it was well documented and passed through a chain of custody.

The PDEA-7 will continue the investigation by doing a background check of the couple by coordinating with the other narcotics agencies of other countries. — /NLQ (FREEMAN)