P326-M shabu intended for RP intercepted in China

Chinese police, acting on a tip-off from the Philippine National Police-Narcotics Group (PNP-NarGroup), intercepted yesterday a seemingly innocuous shipment of porcelain bound for Manila in Shenzen, China and found instead 163 kilos of shabu, with a street value of P326 million.

NarGroup chief Efren Fernandez said the seizure of the shabu also resulted in the arrest of Hong Kong residents Li Kai-Ming, 41, and Chan Fan-Tak, 36.

The two suspects were arrested by joint operatives of the Shenzen municipal police and the Hong Kong police narcotics bureau. The shipment was declared as porcelain items and consigned to a Manila-based company.

Fernandez said the latest seizure of shabu in Shenzen was a result of intelligence sharing between the PNP and the Hong Kong narcotics bureau. "This success story was a result of close coordination and timely exchange of information between (police working to stop) illegal drug operations worldwide," he said.

He added that follow-up operations are now underway to identify and arrest the Philippine cohorts of Li and Chan.

Last February, NarGroup agents discovered shabu concealed in a container van from China which was labeled "sotanghon." A few weeks ago, the NarGroup raided a warehouse inside the Subic Freeport in search of 2,000 kilos of shabu. However, the raid only yielded trace amounts of the illegal drug and made sick a number of sniffer dogs because of a vile smell in the warehouse.

At least three shabu factories were dismantled by anti-narcotics police in Pasig City, San Juan town and Lipa City in Batangas as a result of sustained anti-drug operations in the Philippines. The said shabu labs were used to process pure shabu smuggled into the Philippines from China.

The Philippines has been classified by international and local drug enforcement agencies as one of the transshipment points for the worldwide distribution of illegal narcotics from China, Cambodia, and Hong Kong. The country’s poorly guarded coastline has made it a favorite transshipment and distribution area of such groups as the 14-K Gang, the Triad and other organized drug and crime syndicates.

To date, local and international drug enforcement agents have arrested 57 suspected drug traffickers – most of them Chinese – and seized more than 1,000 kilos of shabu worth at least P2 billion.

In a related development, the Senate approved the other day a tougher anti-illegal drug trafficking bill that will make it easier for the courts to mete out the death penalty.

The proposed Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act will also require all candidates for public office to take a drug test and require annual drug testing for all members of the police force and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

"The dancing days of illegal drug traffickers and street pushers are done, as the country would soon have the toughest and most potent anti-drug law in Asia," said the bill’s author, Sen. Robert Barbers, a former policeman.

The House of Representatives ratified the Barbers bill last Wednesday. President Arroyo is expected to sign it into law soon.

The Barbers measure will supersede a 20-year-old statute which legislators say is not tough enough.

Under the bill, courts can impose the death penalty for possession of 50 grams or more of shabu instead of the 200 grams specified in the old law.

Possession of between 10 and 50 grams of shabu, under the Barbers bill, is punishable by life imprisonment.

Possession of 500 grams or more of marijuana is also a capital offense.

The Barbers measure also imposes the death penalty on drug dealers who sell their deadly wares within 100 meters of any school, use minors or mentally handicapped persons as drug couriers and on those who plant drugs as evidence. — With Efren Danao