Drug-free is business-friendly

Investors have been known to immediately take out of their list countries that have drug and crime problems.

If the present successful efforts of our major drug-combating agency would continue, our chances of being included in this short list of countries for possible business investments shall stand great.

Activated pursuant to Executive Order No. 218 dated June 18, 2003, the AIDSOTF or Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force under the stewardship of Task Force Commander and then Deputy Director General and now PNP Chief Edgar Batalla Aglipay, the country’s premier drug-busting group has indeed made an outstanding account of itself in a little over a year of operations.

Consider AIDSOTF’s performance:

It was directed to clear 500 drug-affected barangays every three months or 2,000 in a year–it cleared 5,140 drug-affected barangays or more than double the target given.

It was directed to arrest 6,000 drug pushers and users every three months or 24,000 in a year–it arrested and charged in court 32,762.

It was directed to neutralize 60 local drug groups every three months or 240 in a year–to date 239 local drug groups have been neutralized, just one shy but still counting.

Now, what’s awesome is the task force’s dismantling of 15 shabu laboratories and seven shabu warehouses and taking out of the streets P22 billion worth of shabu and ephedrine (major component of shabu).

The laudable performance of the task force is estimated to have crippled more than 60 percent of the operations of the illegal drug syndicates, particularly those engaged in the mass production of shabu in the country.

I got all these facts and figures during our on and off camera conversation, which my brother Rey and I had with now PNP Chief General Aglipay, while taping last week for our TV show Breaking Barriers, which will be shown this coming Wednesday, at 11 pm on IBC TV-13. I even kidded him, "with such enviable success it looks like you are winning the war against illegal drugs here better than your counterparts are doing in the US", and typical of his fine and always unobtrusive demeanor, Egay only managed a smile for the compliment.

And also typical of him, he was even taking none of the credit but instead citing the dedication of his men in the task force and in quite a number of instances the help of the populace in informing the authorities and helping in the pin pointing of the locations of laboratories churning out the illegal drugs.

And in this regard I’d like to pass on to our readers some of the indicators of the likely presence of shabu laboratories and warehouses. Knowledge of this information can help us ordinary citizens in sensing these illegal drug factories that may already be inconspicuously present in our locality, se we can in turn report such possible presence to the authorities.

Indicators On The Likely Presence Of Shabu Lab / Warehouse

Building with high fence and gates

Usually leased for short periods (eight months to a year) and uninhabited most of the time

The lessee is not the occupant

Usually stored inside the leased property are inferior quality imported items so as to look like "legitimate fronts"

Only with a handful of workers, mostly Chinese-looking

The presence of giant smokestacks/exhaust systems despite being a non-factory building

Emission of nauseating odors from highly toxic chemicals

Corroded roof and stained walls due to chemical burns

Discolored and damaged floors due to very potent acid

Dried-up vegetation within the vicinity

Presence of container vans, closed vans and passenger vans

Presence of closed circuit TV cameras

Presence of mixers, dryers, pressure tanks and rotary evaporators

Presence of wooden crates containing bottles of Thionyl Chloride and Acetone

Presence of Ephedrine contained in sacks

Presence of activated carbon

Very high consumption of hydrogen gas, electricity and water

Now if you see the presence of the above or even just the combination of some of them, it may be likely that what you have in your midst is a shabu factory. Considering that you do not have the trained eye or the skill to accurately determine whether it’s really a shabu laboratory, the best course of action is to make a discreet report to the task force, which is located inside Camp Crame.

General Aglipay’s very dedicated illegal drug-busting group has also come up with a profile of shabu factory chemists or helpers. And in order to make our readers better equipped in identifying them, I’d like to pass it on.

Shabu Laboratory Workers’ Profile

Usually are foreign nationals, mostly Chinese

With acid burns or discoloration in their arms

Do not mingle with local residents

Display paranoid tendencies

Suffer from diseases afflicting internal organs particularly the liver and kidney

With no visible means of income

Cannot speak Tagalog or local dialect

General Aglipay enjoins the populace to help out in this Herculean task to clear the country of illegal drugs. His task force has even come up with a system wherein citizens can provide information to help them apprehend pushers and users of these illegal drugs and dismantle the labs that churn them out without putting the citizens’ safety into jeopardy. They are also willing to reward those who supply this info.

The police authorities can never be successful in this war against illegal drugs without the help of the civilian populace. We need to play out our part in being vigilant in this never-ending war to rid our society of the evils of this menace.

If only for the unprecedented success of the AIDSOT Force, the ascension of General Edgar B. Aglipay to the highest position in the Philippine National Police hierarchy is nothing less than well-deserved.

Congratulations Egay and the best of luck to you.

Mabuhay!!! Be proud to be a Filipino.

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