PDEA: Zambian woman nabbed with P63M drugs at Naia

Facade of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in Pasay City. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — A 34-year-old woman traveling from the African nation of Zambia was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) after being found with drugs worth P63,076,800 in her luggage, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said on Wednesday.

The agency reported that the Naia Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group nabbed the Zambian traveler with 9,276 grams of shabu (crystal meth) concealed in her luggage at the Customs International Arrival in Terminal 3 at 10:50 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 17.

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group arrests a Zambian woman with 9.2 kilograms of shabu (crystal meth) worth P63 million late Tuesday evening, Dec. 17, 2024. (Photo from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency)

Arvin Targa, information officer of the PDEA National Capital Region (NCR), told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview on Wednesday morning that the suspect was arriving from a direct flight to the Philippines when the luggage went through a scanner and was verified by a K9 unit.

According to Targa, the traveler claimed she did not know the luggage contained drugs.

He recalled that the Naia task group intercepted a 31-year-old South African national with 6,200 grams of shabu also concealed in his luggage last October.

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“Logically, if your luggage has 10 kilos, that’s suspicious. It’s impossible for you not to notice. That’s too heavy. That’s what she claims; that she did not know it still contained drugs,” Targa said in Filipino.

When asked about the traveler’s motives, the PDEA information office said the foreigner set out to the Philippines to study.

“Based on her story, she was going to study here. She was going to stay here for two months. She was about to study her options, hoping she could enroll by January,” Targa said in Filipino.

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“Until now, we still have not talked to the passenger’s family. She said she couldn’t contact them. I don’t know if that’s part of their modus or she really can’t contact them, based on her story,” he told INQUIRER.net.

The suspect was under the custody of the PDEA NCR, Targa added. She will face charges for importation of dangerous drugs, according to the agency.