5 Hong Kong nationals nabbed for 107 kilos of shabu

MANILA, Philippines — Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested last night five Hong Kong nationals and confiscated around 107 kilos of shabu in a condominium building in Pasay City.

Armed with a search warrant, PDEA director general Aaron Aquino led the officers in the raid on a unit at the Oceanaire Luxurious Residences located at the Mall of Asia Complex at around 8:30 p.m.

The drugs, valued at P727.6 million, were found in what Aquino described as a  kitchen-type drug laboratory.

“This is a product of our collaboration with China,” Aquino said in a phone interview, adding that it took the PDEA four months of surveillance operations to crack the drug trafficking ring.

Aquino said five Hong Kong nationals, two of them chemists, were arrested. Their names were not immediately available.

He said the drug ring apparently used the condominium unit as a base of operations.

“We think their market is here,” Aquino said.

Last year, the PDEA together with agents of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) confiscated P6.4 billion worth of shabu during raids on warehouses in Valenzuela. The drugs were shipped through the Manila port from China.

Several weeks ago, the PDEA also confiscated over P3 billion worth of shabu hidden in magnetic lifters that were shipped through the BOC but remained unclaimed by the consignee at the Manila International Container Port.

A follow-up raid in Cavite found similar magnetic lifters. Although no drugs were found, PDEA sniffing dogs reportedly detected traces of shabu in the lifters.