PDEA to beef up NAIA ability to stop drug smuggling

MANILA, Philippines – An inter-agency task force headed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has been formed to beef up government efforts to control the entry and exit of illegal drugs through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

A memorandum of agreement was signed Thursday between PDEA and concerned agencies, including the Manila International Airport Authority, the Office for Transportation Security, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the customs and immigration bureaus, to identify the specific tasks of the new group.

“This is the first step in meeting drug interdiction challenges in major entry points in the country, particularly at the NAIA,” PDEA Director General Jose Gutierrez Jr. said in a statement.

“This pilot project expects to showcase mutual cooperation among the participating government agencies with interrelated mandates to safeguard NAIA from illegal drugs and promote national interest,” Gutierrez added.

Under the agreement, the NAIA Inter-agency Drug Interdiction Task Group requires all contracting parties “to cooperate with each other and coordinate efforts to control the entry and exit of illegal drugs, controlled precursors and essential chemicals through the NAIA complex.”

This will be done “by providing support to the inter-agency task group through detail of personnel, timely exchange dissemination of intelligence, and resource sharing,” according to the agreement.

PDEA shall act as the commander and executive officer of the task force and take the lead role in the over-all investigation and filing of drug cases against apprehended individuals in cooperation with member agencies.

Under the current set-up at the NAIA, PDEA operatives oversee the arrest and investigation of suspects in drug-related offenses at the airport, but coordination with other agencies is limited, prompting the creation of the new group.

Gutierrez said the project was supported by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency and the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force-West, which provided assistance, such as the construction of the task force operations center, purchase of appropriate equipment, and personnel training.