Liquid cocaine in shampoo bottles seized at NAIA

MANILA - Officials at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 seized about 2 liters of liquid cocaine from a Filipina. Customs investigator Byron Carbonell and Regino Tuason, in their report to Customs Police chief Col. Marlon Alameda, identified the suspect as Mary Joy Soriano, a 25-year-old native of Quirino province. Authorities said Soriano arrived at the airport on board Emirates Airline flight 332. Two bottles of liquid cocaine labeled as shampoo were found in her luggage. The liquid cocaine, when transformed to powder, could weigh as much as 2 kilograms and can be sold for about P10 million. Alameda said information from their counterparts abroad was the basis of the alert order. Based on records, Soriano went to Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, Dubai, Brazil and then Qatar before flying back to Manila. Soriano was undergoing tactical interrogation, as of posting. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency has also launched an investigation to identify the group which was supposed to pick up the contraband. Soriano claimed she was only paid to carry the luggage and was not aware that it contained illegal items. – Raul Esperas; with a report from Henry Atuelan, dzMM