(Eagle News) — Authorities have seized P1.8 million worth of smuggled drugs, the Bureau of Customs said on Thursday, Dec. 4.
According to the bureau, the 35,345 tablets of diazepam (Valium) and nitrazepam (Mogadon) were discovered by NAIA Customs personnel during the inspection and examination of parcels in Pair Cargo warehouse in Parañaque.
The bureau said Diazepam (Valium) and Nitrazepam (Mogadon) are included in the 1971 United Nations Single Convention on Psychotropic Substances under Schedule IV.
“Both have addictive properties and characteristics, and considered as highly regulated drugs,” the bureau said.
A check showed the tablets were smuggled into the country and had no required License to Operate and Certificate of Product Registration from the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), and an import permit from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency pursuant to the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The tablets were turned over today to PDEA “for further investigation, case profiling and build up against personalities involved in the unlawful and fraudulent importation, and prosecution for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act (Republic Act 9165) in relation to Sections 118 (Prohibited Importation), 1113 (Goods Liable for Seizure and Forfeiture) and 1401 (Unlawful Importation) of the Republic Act 10863, otherwise known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA),” the bureau said.
Records showed the cargo was shipped by a certain “Muztaza and brother” from Pakistan and had been misdeclared as “Health Care Products.”
Since January, authorities have intercepted P1.72 billion worth of illegal drugs from the country’s ports, the bureau said.