MANILA, Philippines—A Kenyan woman was caught trying to smuggle nearly 10 kilos of “shabu,” or methamphetamine hydrochloride, into the country from the United Arab Emirates on Friday night, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said Saturday.
Lina Aching Noah, 36, was arrested after customs inspectors found the illegal drugs, with a street value of about P45 million, in her bag at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, PDEA Director General Jose Gutierrez Jr. said.
Noah, a suspected member of an African drug syndicate, landed at the NAIA at 7 p.m. on Friday via an Emirates flight from Dubai, Gutierrez said.
The PDEA said that prior to the suspect’s arrest, it had received a tip from a foreign counterpart agency about her, prompting agents to coordinate with the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Customs to intercept her.
Noah is detained at the PDEA-National Capital Region detention facility.