CEBU CITY -- A Kenyan woman was arrested at the Mactan airport minutes after she alighted from the plane that left Doha, Qatar.
Asha Apiano Ogutu, 24, of Nairobi, Kenya, was said to be carrying two to three kilos of powder that authorities suspected to be shabu.
Ogutu was onboard Flight 656 of Qatar Airlines, which arrived at the Mactan Cebu International Airport from Qatar at 4:45 p.m. Thursday.
A joint team of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) made the arrest.
BOC Sub-Port of Mactan Examineer Calvin Bonaobra said that using an NBI information, Ogutu was placed under surveillance upon her arrival.
He said the dogs sniffed Ogutu’s brown trolley bag much longer.
Bonaobra opened Ogutu’s bag and found two large silver packs hidden in the bag’s linings.
Each weighed 1.5 kilograms and would have a street value of P15 million.
An initial chemical test done by Dr. Rene Cam of NBI Central Visayas found it to be positive of illegal drugs. A confirmatory test will be conducted.
NBI Regional Director Edward Villarta said they received information from the central office that a courier from Doha was flying in to Cebu with a package containing illegal drugs.
Ogutu refused to issue any statement.
BOC Sub-Port of Mactan Collector Paul Alcazaren said under the law, the BOC has exclusive jurisdiction over the illegal drugs and therefore, it’s his office that will file charges against Ogutu.
But the NBI wanted to take custody of the drugs, Alcazaren said.
But before they booked and detained Ogutu, the law enforcers quarreled over who got custody of the confiscated items.
BOC District Collector Ronnie Silvestre, in an interview, said it was only an argument over jurisdiction, as the arrest was done in the BOC zone.
Silvestre said he talked with Villarta about the incident and settled things.
Villarta said his office coordinated with the government agencies before he carried out the operation.
Silvestre said they’ve learned a lesson when they arrested two Chinese nationals last March 2011 for carrying three kilos of white powder, which were found to be ephedrine, a 95 percent ingredient of shabu, during a field test conducted by laboratory experts of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) infront of ABS-CBN and GMA 7.
However, the PDEA in Manila who conducted the confirmatory test declared it to be negative of ephedrine. The Chinese were released. (EOB/JKV/Sun.Star Cebu
