Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon on Tuesday said there was "neglect of duty" on the entry of P6.4-billion worth of illegal drugs from China.

Faeldon, in an interview on Bandila DZMM, said the importer that shipped 600 kilos of “shabu” was not flagged by the Risk Management Office as a sole proprietor and new importer.

“Kapag green ka, hindi ka iinspectin, so dapat mag-red ka para it’s either bulatlatin ‘yan isa-isa atsaka i-x-ray,” Faeldon said.

“These are the things we’re investigating but initially what we had found out is since October, hindi na nailalagay ‘yung mga bagong importers. That's why initially we found a neglect of duty in the part of the in-charge of inputting this data,” he added.

Faeldon said President Rodrigo Duterte does not want the Bureau of Customs to manually open containers entering the country, which is why the bureau is in need of additional x-ray machines.

“The President does not want us to manually open these boxes. The inspection must be non-intrusive. X-ray na lang. ‘Yun po ‘yung kalagayan talaga ng ating border security,” he said.

“We are processing at least 10,000 containers every day and the capacity of our x-ray is only 16 percent. When we started in July last year, 8 percent lang pero sinagad na natin ‘yung kakayanan ng machine so 16 percent ngayon. While we’re talking here, there’s an 84 percent chance that another contraband is entering our country,” he added.

Faeldon said he will seek help from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) for additional x-ray machines.

“I have to talk to DBM so we can find funds because we cannot wait for the 2018 budget and ang delivery process niyan is 8 to 10 months. So that means 2019 pa tayo magkaka-x-ray,” he said.

“We will appeal to the Congress if they want to provide so we can really [tighten] the borders of our country,” he added.

Faeldon said 18 x-ray machines to be placed in airports are set to arrive by August 23, courtesy of the DBM.

• READ: Faeldon, PDEA official clash over shabu sting operation