Shabu chemicals worth over P1 trillion seized from La Union farm house

NAGUILIAN, La Union – Police seized six truckloads of chemicals and other paraphernalia that can be used to manufacture 180,000 kilos of shabu, worth more than P1 trillion, during a raid at a farm house that was turned into a drug laboratory here last Wednesday.

Senior Superintendent Noli Taliño, La Union police director, said in a phone interview with The STAR that the raiding team arrested two caretakers of the farm that was leased by a certain George Cordero from Bulacan.

Cordero was not around during the raid but caretakers Dante Tomas Palaganas, 41, and Andy Tangalim, 44, were taken into custody.

Taliño said the caretakers claimed they were not allowed by their boss to go to the laboratory and were only ordered to take care of the premises.

He said the raiding team, composed of members of the Naguilian police, the provincial police office, the regional police headquarters, conducted the raid at around 3 p.m. at the farmhouse in Barangay Binmotobot.

Investigators said the huge volume of chemicals confiscated could produce as much as 180,000 kilos of shabu with a street value of more than P1 trillion. A kilo of shabu is now worth P6,000.

Investigators said the police operation was conducted in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the office of La Union Gov. Manoling Ortega.

Taliño said the raiding team recovered the chemicals and laboratory equipment from two sites at the farm located in a secluded area in a mountainous section of the barangay.

He said the chemicals were stored at the main farmhouse, which is a bungalow. There were two other small buildings, one of which has a cave with a concrete floor. The farm has a perimeter fence made of galvanized iron sheets.

Probers said that foul odor emanating from the farmhouse prompted nearby residents to report it to the police.

Taliño said the two arrested farm caretakers were placed under interrogation while the seized items were turned over yesterday to the PDEA.

Drug enforcement agents said the seized items include 159 bags of soda, iodine crystal, heather, hydrochloric acid, and red phosphorous and three gallons of organic solvent. – With Edu Punay, Cecille Suerte Felipe