By: Dahlia Abiera Orit

MAASIN CITY — About 8 thousand pesos worth of suspected illegal drugs were seized by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency or PDEA Southern Leyte Provincial Office (SLPO) together with the police personnel in the warehouse of a courier service located in Brgy Abgao, Maasin City, from an abandoned parcel.

Based on the PNP report, the parcel came from Biñan City, Laguna under the name “Lollypop1998” and was addressed to a resident of brgy Tagnipa, Maasin City, province of Southern Leyte.

According from the report, the questionable parcel was opened by a PDEA agent in the presence of the authorities last Thursday, July 18, past 3:15 in the afternoon.

There, the law enforcement officer confirmed that there was a transparent sachet package of supposed Marijuana stalks, seeds and leaves wrapped in another plastic inside a cardboard box.

It was reported that some officials of the said barangay were the witnesses of the inventory.

The confiscated contraband weighs approximately 67.30 grams and is worth 8,076 pesos.

After the inventory, the suspected drug item was brought to the Maasin CPS for further investigation before being turned over to the Southern Leyte Provincial Forensic Unit for Chemical Analysis.

It was noted that during the launch of the first Usapang BIDA or Buhay Ingatan, Droga’y Ayawaan, the PDEA 8 Southern Leyte revealed that this was not the first incident that their team seized illegal drugs inside the parcels.

The PDEA is coordinating with the courier companies to carefully check the parcel that arrives in the province so that it does not contain illegal drugs.