Philippine Customs Seize 43kg of Methamphetamine Shipment From Afghanistan
The Philippine Bureau of Customs has announced the discovery of about 43 kilograms of methamphetamine, or shisha, in a shipment sent from Afghanistan at Manila International Container Port. The bureau said the drugs were valued at 292.4 million Philippine pesos.
In its report, the bureau said the shipment consisted of two 20-foot containers declared in customs documents as “talc stones.” Officials said the drugs had been concealed inside cloth bags and fashioned to resemble talc stones.
According to the report, officers found the suspicious materials among the cargo during an inspection. Officials said the packages were coated with a chalk-like substance so they would appear identical to the declared contents of the shipment and remain hidden from inspectors.
The Philippine Bureau of Customs said confirmatory laboratory tests on the recovered samples verified the presence of methamphetamine hydrochloride. In Afghanistan and the region, the substance is more commonly known as shisha.
Philippine officials also said the shipment was similar to another container linked to Afghanistan that was intercepted at the same port on February 10, 2026. That shipment was declared in customs documents as “marble stones,” but about 40 kilograms of drugs worth 272 million pesos were found in it.
Manila International Container Port is one of the Philippines’ most important trade gateways, and a large share of the country’s imports moves through it. The latest seizure was reported as officials pointed to its similarity with the earlier Afghanistan-linked shipment.
