Philippines’ corrupt customs bureau makes mockery of
Duterte’s war on drugs
Local residents believe that the most corrupt government office in the Philippines is filled with “buwayas” or crocodiles, the name used to describe greedy customs officers, who pocket money from business owners.
It started like a drug-war police thriller. Now it’s playing like a farce, with bumbling agents pointing fingers at each other and an exasperated President Rodrigo Duterte looking hapless, sacking officials and calling in the army.
The plot includes shady operatives, whistle-blowers, X-ray scanners, sniffer dogs ━ and a colossal shipment of drugs valued in billions of pesos.
At the heart of the story are magnetic lifters, the massive, circular steel plates attached to cranes to move scrap metal. Ω