Anna Mogato | October 17, 2026
MANILA — The Philippines has launched an inter-agency investigation after authorities at a Laos airport seized at least a 521-kilogram synthetic drug shipment en route to Manila.
At a news conference, anti-corruption agency head Crispin Remulla said they have identified 11 persons of interest who might be linked to a Mindanao-based politician-led drug syndicate.
“It’s positively from the Golden Triangle; that’s where the drugs came from,” Remulla said, referring to the border areas of Cambodia, Laos, and war-torn Myanmar.
“We’re not labelling any ethnicity or city or people; we are putting a name to the face of who we suspect are behind this [drug shipment].”
Remulla said a regional autonomous politician from the Bangsamoro area, identified as Sultan Edrieza Nazzer Rimbang, was identified as a person of interest after he paid for the charter flight from Laos to the Philippines.
On October 1, Laotian authorities intercepted a large shipment of crystal methamphetamine, stored in 21 suitcases, on board a private Learjet 55B at Luang Prabang International Airport.
The charter jet, which came from Malaysia, was en route to the Philippines.
Remulla said that the plane had attempted to land in Manila in the last week of September.
Philippine authorities have been coordinating with Malaysian and Laotian counterparts to track the persons of interest, including consignees and financiers, involved in the drug shipment.
“That’s why we’re asking the Congress to pass a law to designate narco-traffickers and drug syndicates as terrorist organizations, so law enforcement agencies all over the world can cooperate with us,” Remulla said.
The shipment was the largest in recent months after customs authorities discovered a 6 billion pesos worth of drug shipment at the Port of Manila during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s time.