P.6-M ecstasy tablets seized at NAIA: Second pack sent to alleged major supplier

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has intercepted 538 tablets of the party drug ecstasy, sent to a student alleged to be a major supplier of illegal drugs in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) yesterday.

The parcel of tablets, with a street value of P600,000, is the second package of illegal drugs addressed to Indian student Prabhjot Gill that was seized by the government.

The 519 yellow tablets and 19 blue tablets contained in the parcel were all confirmed to be 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methamphetamine (MDMA), also called ecstasy, by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Verne Enciso, head of the BOC’s Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service at the airport, said the tablets were hidden in bubble wrap inside a sealed envelope.

The package was sent by Vanessa Wonder from Amstelveen in the Netherlands to Gill in Sampaloc, Manila. It arrived last April 3 and misdeclared to be documents.

“This is a result of our intelligence build up based on the arrest conducted last week by Customs postal and PDEA,” Enciso told The STAR over the phone.

PDEA director general Arturo Cacdac, Jr. said Gill, 18, was arrested after he reportedly sold 223 orange “fly-high” tablets to an undercover agent at his condominium unit along Taft Avenue in Manila on March 24. These tablets contain both shabu and ecstasy.

“Gill is reportedly a major distributor of ‘fly-high’ and ecstasy in Metro Manila and some parts of Central Luzon. He is also responsible for the bulk of the illegal drugs sold during a recently held international music festival in Pampanga,” Cacdac said.

Investigators said that prior to his arrest, Gill bought 500 ecstasy tablets from an online black market website that shipped the illegal drugs into the country from the Netherlands through parcel post.

On April 2, a team of agents from PDEA and the BOC intercepted Gill’s package of 500 ecstasy tablets – with a street value of P750,000 – at the Manila Central Post Office.

2 suspected dealers nabbed

Meanwhile, two men suspected to be supplying ecstasy tablets to those frequenting clubs and nightspots were arrested in Quezon City over the weekend.

Sittie Bacolod, 30, of Barangay San Vicente; and Carlo Eleseo Ledesma, 30, of Pasig City were arrested Saturday night with 20 tablets, each with a street value of P1,000, in their possession, said Senior Inspector Roberto Razon, head of the QCPD’s anti-drug unit.

The two were arrested outside a condominium building along Boni Serrano Avenue in Barangay West Crame.

“The two are believed to be one of many distributors of ecstasy to partygoers of clubs,” Razon said. – With Reinir Padua