Suspect in shabu lab leads authorities to other labs

SAN PEDRO, Laguna — Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Laguna police raided last Monday a shabu laboratory here after arrested Taiwanese drug dealer Tony Tan Go decided to cooperate with the authorities.

Armed with a search warrant issued by Executive Judge Reynaldo Ros of the Manila Regional Trial Court, law enforcers went to a warehouse that Go rented at the Amante Subdivision, Purok 5, Barangay Nueva, where more chemicals and other ingredients used to produce shabu were seized.

Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan Jr., Southern Tagalog police director, said that after interrogation Go pinpointed the address of another shabu laboratory in San Pedro.

Go was nabbed last Sunday at his rented apartment in Biñan, Laguna which was also raided last Friday by drug enforcement agents who seized chemicals used to manufacture an estimated P5 billion worth of shabu.

Radovan said the discovery of the drug laboratory in San Pedro was a follow-up operation after the raid in Biñan, where authorities seized five sacks of detergent, nine boxes of acetic anhydrite, 84 crates of Thionyl chloride, six pieces of 2000 ml Pyrex separator funnel, one rotary evaporator and 70 pieces of mask filters.

“Basically, what we found in Go’s Biñan apartment is similar to the chemicals and equipment recovered in his San Pedro ware-house,”said Superintendent Raul Bargamento, Region 4-A PDEA chief.

Bargamento said the warehouse is owned by a certain Noel Hidalgo and managed by Teo-doro Garcia. Go pays a rent of P28,000 a month.

Probers said the residents near the San Pedro ware-house were not aware of the illegal activities of the Taiwanese.

Bargamento said Go told interrogators that there are two more shabu laboratories which his group maintains. Police however refused to give details before they conduct follow-up operations.

Bargamento said they will coordinate with the Taiwan Eco-nomic and Cul-tural Office in Manila to verify the real identity of Go, who is facing charges of illegal manufacture of illegal drugs. He is now detained at the police jail in Biñan.

Drug enforcers earlier raided Go’s apartment unit that was part of a 43-door apartment compound reportedly owned by a local police general.

Information gathered showed that the compound is registered in the name of Chief Superintendent Antonio Atienza, Region 3 police deputy director for Internal Affairs and his wife Honor delos Santos-Atienza.

Atienza denied any knowledge of the illegal activities of his Taiwanese tenant.

“I wasn’t aware of the illegal activities of the suspect, I only learned that (shabu) ingredients were recovered in Go’s unit after I heard the news from my wife,” Atienza explained.