By Azer N. Parrocha
MANILA, Aug. 19 (PNA) — Abandoned shoes in the Lost and Found section of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 were discovered to be concealing Php10-million worth of illegal drugs, airport authorities said Wednesday.
The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) noted that Lost and Found personnel were sorting out items at the Terminal 1 warehouse when they found a black pair of Clark Active Air Shoes to be suspiciously heavy.
Personnel later found 500 grams of the yellow, powder-like substance inside one shoe while another 500 grams concealed in the other after cutting open the soles of the shoes.
Another brown pair of Clark Active shoes was found inside the box of unclaimed footwear which also contained the same powder-like substance.
MIAA said that the substance hidden in the shoes were wrapped inside a dark plastic material shaped like the bottom of the shoe and placed inside its soles. They were also sewn carefully back together.
Both pairs of shoes and the drugs were turned over to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), which confirmed the substance to be heroin.
One kilogram of the substance has an estimated street value of Php 5 million.
MIAA said that investigation was ongoing to determine exactly where the shoes at issue were found and when these were turned over to the Lost and Found Section of Terminal 1.
MIAA General Manager Jose Angel Honrado, meanwhile assured the public that measures are in place to check all items and baggage entering the terminals such as further inspection before lost and found items are disposed.
“The airport Authority is one with the PDEA in preventing the spread of illegal substances,” Honrado said.
“Security personnel at the NAIA are always on heightened alert in scrutinizing items considering that drug traffickers are utilizing innovative ways to transport dangerous substances,” he said. (PNA)