P47M cocaine seized at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines: Law enforcement from the Bureau of Customs (BoC) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) confiscated illegal drugs worth P47,695,283.00 from a passenger who arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) from Addis Ababa, authorities said on Friday.

The 30-year-old Bolivian, identified as Roberth Lavadenz Alvarez, was apprehended after illegal items were found in his luggage.

According to BoC authorities, Alvarez,a passenger of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET644, who arrived in the country on October 31, was unaware that he had a derogatory record shared by US Homeland Security Service — Manila with the Philippine government.

The BoC stated that Alvarez made his way from Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he started his journey, before he headed to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Seized from the suspect were 10 plastic pouches containing 405 pieces of wrapped candy weighing 8,999.11 grams of cocaine after it passed through BoC's x-ray scanning machine.

He was the sixth foreign visitor to be apprehended this year at the country's primary airport due to involvement in drug trafficking. Among the rest were two women from Singapore, one individual from Liberia, one from El Salvador, and another from Turkey.