The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has officially tapped into the services of forklift drivers and other materials handling staff to help monitor the smuggling of illegal drugs and chemicals at the country's various ports.

PDEA officials announced that forklift drivers have a significant role to play in monitoring the movement of suspicious cargoes because they are at the forefront of the materials handling operations in port areas.

Forklift operators will be trained during their spare time on how to detect suspicious cargoes which could include illegal drugs and banned chemicals, the PDEA said. They would also be shown how to report their suspicions to the authorities without being detected by shipment owners.

PDEA officials said the help was needed in places like Cebu where recently about 1,800 kilos of an illegal drug were seized. The shipment, estimated at P3.6 billion (USD64.3 million), was intercepted by a joint team from the Cebu Bureau of Customs and the PDEA, after a forklift driver reported his discovery of the suspicious containers.

The Cebu Port Forklift Drivers' Association (CPFDA) welcomed the anti-drug agency's move, but stressed that appropriate security must also be provided to forklift drivers who fear that smugglers might get back at them.

CPFDA president Celestino Noval said several forklift drivers have reportedly been witnessing the shipment of illegal drugs and illegal chemicals but didn't know where to report the incidents. The drivers said it was because it was likely there were protectors of the smugglers within the port area.

"Now that we know who to trust and where to report," Noval said, "there will surely be several arrests related to the smuggling of illegal drugs."