Director General Aaron Aquino, Chief of Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) believedthat the magnetic lifters contained shabu even if the Bureau of Customs do not agree with him.
Aquino after taking on leave finally showed up on Thursday, August 30 in the second day of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs’ investigation on the alleged one-ton shabu shipment that was smuggled inthe Philippines and was intercepted by the BOC at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) several weeks back.
Back then, when the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs made an inquiry about the incident Bureau of Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapena said that the BOC, personnel from the Philippine National Police and PDEA itself processed the crime scene and the magnetic lifters “but this yielded negative result for the presence of dangerous drugs.”
He went on, “Based on the result of the laboratory analysis both from PDEA and the PNP, the four magnetic lifters have no presence of dangerous drugs.”
Read related stories:
 No proof that P6.8-B shabu was in lifters, President Duterte
 Pacquiao files a resolution to probe drug smuggling at Customs
In the hearing, Congressman Miro Quimbo asked PDEA Chief Aquino,“Are you convinced that those 4 magnetic lifters in GMA (General Mariano Alvarez) contained illegal drugs?”And he replied,“Yes sir, they contained illegal drugs.”
Aquino also expressed his disappointment and sadness over the allegations being thrown against him that he was wrong to announce the magnetic lifters had contained shabu were “unfair.”
“Yes, it’s unfair. Because I’m just telling the truth and precisely, the truth and the goodness will prevail,”he Aquino.
Why is the PDEA Chief is so certain in his belief? He intimated that PDEA’s K-9 dog “responded twice” to every magnetic lifter when they inspected the warehouse in Cavite.
He added, “we all know that K-9 can detect scents 10,000 times better than a human being. And I know that because I was once assigned in a K-9 unit during my junior days. Definitely we believe in our K-9. In fact, I’m buying 100 K-9 dogs this September to enhance and strengthen our capabilities in our seaports and airports”.
THEPHILBIZNEWS asked a K-9 training school to give their professional comment on the reaction of the K-9 dogs when they sat down as they sniffed the lifting equipment that was alleged to contain shabu, and the trainor said, “K-9 dogs are well trained, especially the ones that are trained to trace drugs. Not to accuse anyone who might be involved in the smuggling of drugs, but the finding of PDEA’s K-9 dogs is 100% accurate even just for the residue.
Aquino further explain about PDEA’s negative swab test done on August 15on the 4 magnetic lifters in Cavite yielded negative for drugs.
He claimed that the two magnetic lifters seized at the MICT also allegedly tested negative for drugs in the joint swab test of PDEA and the PNP. He said this is despite the authorities being able to recover the shabu from the containers.
He explained, ”Sir, we swabbed, the PDEA, the forensic chemist of the Philippine National Police jointly swabbed the two container vans or magnetic lifters that were seized in MICT… It’s negative! But it doesn’t mean ‘pag negative, walang drugs (if the results are negative, there are no drugs)!”
The PDEA Chief a native of Davao likened the detection of drugs to the scent of durian.
I’m from Davao. Try to put durian in a car. Put it in a jar completely sealed. Let’s say the durian did not spill from the jar. You ride the car. What would you smell? Durian.