MANILA, Philippines. A 59-year-old Filipino woman was arrested for attempting to smuggle into the country $140,000 cash hidden in a box of imported chocolates.
Nabbed was Carolina Gozon of Bataan province. Gozon arrived from Seoul, Korea, on board an Asiana Airlines flight OZ 701 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1.
Customs Collector Tess Roque said the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the customs police have been monitoring Gozon for several weeks now. Based on PDEA’s intelligence report, Gozon was supposed to attempt to smuggle high-grade cocaine from Korea. But the inspection team, including a drug-sniffing dog, failed to find drugs from Gozon’s belongings.
Further inspection of Gozon’s personal belongings led to the discovery of $140,000 cash, which were hidden inside a box of imported chocolates.
Gozon declared that the money belongs to her son, Joselito Gozon, a businessman in Korea. She claimed that the money was intended to pay off the family’s debts and to buy a parcel of land in Bataan.
Authorities confiscated the undeclared money from Gozon for violating a regulation of the Central Bank of the Philippines. – ?