US donates P3.6M handheld drug analyzers to BOC

0
1693
BOC Commissioner Leonardo B. Guerrero (left) showcases the donated equipment along with U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Country Attaché Christopher Adduci (center) and U.S. Embassy Director for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Kelia Cummins (right). Photo from the U.S. Embassy
  • The US Drug Enforcement Agency and US Department of State’s Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs donated three handheld drug analyzers worth P3.6 million to the Bureau of Customs
  • The devices will further enhance BOC’s capacity to detect illegal drugs and narcotics and strengthen its border security and protection functions

The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and US Department of State’s Office of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) have donated three handheld drug analyzers to the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to help counter drug flows into the Philippines.

The three Rigaku Raman Spectrometers, with a total value of P3.6 million (US$75,000), will be used to further enhance BOC’s capacity to detect illegal drugs and narcotics and to strengthen its border security and protection functions.

In turnover remarks on December 3, Custom Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero thanked the US government, saying the equipment “will greatly contribute to our effort against illegal drugs.”

US Embassy INL director Kelia Cummins, for her part, said they were pleased to “contribute to the Bureau of Customs’ operational capability.”

Part of BOC’s 2020 10-point priority program is intensifying its border protection function. BOC earlier said that of the P20.58 billion worth of smuggled goods it seized in 2019, about P3.6 billion were illegal drugs.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR