Operatives from the Bureau of Immigration recently foiled an attempt by an American and a Korean to smuggle illegal drugs inside the BI Warden Facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City.

BI Warden Facility Officer-in-Charge Adelfo Marasigan identified the two foreign nationals as Robert Wayne Boling Jr., a 41-year-old American, and Kwon Hyeok Soo, a 41-year-old Korean.

Both are detainees who tried to bring in two sachets of suspected shabu weighing almost 7 grams on 4 October.

Marasigan disclosed that the intercepted illegal drugs were found inside a Korean stew to be delivered to Boling.

To recall, on 21 September, Korean national Yang Heejun was also caught sneaking 4 grams of suspected shabu hidden inside a kimchi container.

According to Marasigan, the BI agents became suspicious when they noticed that the food delivery request by Boling was almost the same as Yang's back in September.

However, Boling reportedly confessed that he only asked to seek approval for the delivery of food supplies and that the said food delivery was owned by Kwon.

Both Boling and Kwon are waiting to face charges for violations of Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act of 2002. They will be criminally charged and prosecuted in court, and if convicted, they will serve their sentence in the country before they can be deported back to their country.

The BI Warden Facility will be on temporary lockdown during the investigation into the case.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco then lauded the BI agents stationed at the detention center.

"This is our officers' second drug apprehension in three weeks," Tansingco said. "Although it is highly commendable, we assure the public that the bureau will not allow these foreigners to use our detention facility as a center for their illegal drug trade."