ALERT customs personnel foiled a plot to establish an opium poppy plantation in the country.

This was discovered by airport customs officials following the seizure of 2 kilograms of opium poppy seeds sent through the DHL parcel service at the customs bonded warehouse in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia).

The item was sent by a certain Isaac Githnu and consigned to Danilo B. Oris of 105 Bonifacio Street, Pembo, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig.

A report submitted by customs appraiser Rodolfo Diego to Naia customs district collector Carlos So said the parcel, with Airway Bill 1278906020, arrived from Kenya on May 24. It was declared as “artwork.”

Appraiser Diego marked the parcel with Informal Entry 65829 for processing.

Diego, however, became suspicious because the item came from Kenya, considered a restricted country, because illegal drugs being sold worldwide originate from that East African nation.

Diego opened the parcel and found two warthog (African wild pig) figurines. In one figurine, he saw a cut around the throat and neck that was glued together. He shook the figurine and noticed some contents spill from it.

The figurine was immediately subjected to x-ray inspection and an unidentified substance inside was detected.

On May 24 lawyer Rupert Bustamante, special deputy collector, DHL Customs Composite Unit, requested that the figurine be subjected to further examination by the Naia Customs Narcotics Interception Unit.

The policemen assigned at the airport also took some samples for chemical analysis.

On June 2 the National Police crime laboratory reported that the substance found in the figurine were opium poppy seeds.

Opium poppy seeds are the source of opium and morphine. When further refined and mixed with chemicals, it is converted to heroin, a hallucinatory substance, according to So.

Heroin has a street value of around P5 million per kilogram.

So issued a warrant of seizure and detention and the poppy seeds are now in customs custody.

Efforts to contact the consignee proved futile, leading customs officials to theorize that it was a fake address, meant to protect the syndicate.