Nigerian held at NAIA for shabu smuggling

MANILA, Philippines - Authorities seized at least three kilograms of shabu from a 39-year-old Nigerian national at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City last Friday night.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency chief Arturo Cacdac Jr. identified the Nigerian as Michael Owoborode, a trader from Lagos City.

Cacdac said that Owoborode was an arriving passenger on board Thai Airways Flight TG624 from Bangkok, Thailand, when he was arrested at around 9:30 p.m. at the arrival area of NAIA Terminal 1.

Upon thorough inspection of Owoborode’s brown luggage, the Duty Customs Examiner discovered three rectangular-shaped packages containing the illegal drugs hidden inside the left, right and back portions of the bag.

Based on the flight details in his passport, Owoborode has traveled all the way from his home country, Nigeria to Cairo, Egypt, and then proceeded to Bangkok, Thailand before he arrived in the Philippines carrying the illegal drugs.

Owoborode is temporarily under the custody of the PDEA-NAIA Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group for drug trafficking.