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A package containing PHP1.4 million (US$27,385) worth of high-grade marijuana was seized by customs officials in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Pasay City yesterday.
The marijuana, which weighed more than three kilos, was hidden inside a package of tortilla chips. The shipment was sent from Illinois, United States and arrived in the Philippines on June 25, reported The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Customs officials said that the shipment was declared as snacks and old clothes by the sender but they became suspicious of its contents because of its strange scent.
“It was discovered during the conduct of physical examination by our customs examiners. And during the examination, they smelled a marijuana-like scent,” Marlon Agaceta of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) told GMA News.
The package was sent to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for testing and the agency confirmed that it was marijuana.
The recipient of the weed was a certain Joseph Mariano. Yesterday, a representative of Mariano named Jake Ryan Soriano arrived at the Central Mail Exchange Center in NAIA to claim the package. He was arrested by the authorities.
Soriano refused to identify the sender of the weed or reveal his relationship to Mariano. There have been no reports about Mariano’s whereabouts.
He will be charged for violating Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, reported Rappler.
