NBI arrests chemist for missing shabu

The Natonal Bureau of Investigation has declared the case of the missing 7.37 kilos of shabu from its evidence laboratory solved with the arrest of one of its former chemists in Malolos, Bulacan last Thursday.

A report submitted to NBI Acting Director Fermin Nasol identified the suspect as Howell Mapoy, 29, formerly assigned at the NBI-Forensic Chemistry Division (NBI-FCD), of Grand Town Village, Sumapang Matanda, Malolos.

Investigation conducted by the NBI’s Domestic Intelligence Services showed some "suspicious indications" connected to the loss.

According to the NBI, when a bureau special committee started a probe of the FCD last April 29 regarding the missing shabu, Mapoy filed a request for transfer to the Bureau of Mines even though his appointment papers were not yet in order at that time. Later, Mapoy went on leave, allegedly to elude investigation, the NBI said.

After three NBI-FCD employees were relieved in connection with the loss, Mapoy returned to the NBI headquarters last May 28 to retrieve his personal belongings. It was then that he was questioned and subjected to a polygraph test. According to NBI, of the FCD employees who were subjected to the polygraph test, it was only Mapoy who flunked the test and manifested positive reactions to questions on the missing drugs.

Investigators were also puzzled by Mapoy’s alleged sudden wealth, such as a brand new scooter and an airconditioned residence. A deeper probe conducted by the NBI showed that Mapoy joined the NBI in 1997 and was assigned to different sections of the FCD, including a stint of two years at the Dangerous Drugs Section.

Acting on the information, the NBI was issued a search warrant by Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Enrico Lanzanas.

During Mapoy’s arrest, NBI-DIS agents also found 20.58 grams of shabu allegedly in his residence. Investigators are also trying to establish a link based on intelligence reports that the suspect’s relatives are also-into drug trafficking, the NBI said. Charges of drug possession and qualified theft are now being readied by the NBI against Mapoy.

According to an NBI source, laxity in enforcing security rules and regulations inside the FCD office could have allowed Mapoy to take out small quantities of shabu from the drug evidence vault over a long period of time between March 2001 and April 2002.

Last May 24, the chief of the NBI’s Forensic Chemistry Division (FCD) and two others assigned to the division were ordered relieved and charged administratively by Wycoco over the disappearance of the shabu under their custody.

Ordered relieved and charged with gross neglect of duty and misconduct before the Office of the Ombudsman were Idabel Pagulayan, acting FCD chief; NBI-Dangerous Drugs Division section chief Constancia Salonga; and evidence custodian designate Lucia Gonzales.

According to Wycoco, the three were relieved of their responsibilities and were made to account for their negligence and administrative lapses.

In his report to Wycoco, then NBI deputy director for intelligence services and head of the investigation committee Samuel Ong said that a re-weighing of the drug haul showed that only 7.37 kilos of shabu worth P14 million were missing from the total 247.58 kilos of shabu recovered by STF agents from a unit of the Somerset Mansions in Pasay City on Dec. 26, 2000.

The loss of the illegal drugs, was uncovered when Pasay City Regional Trial Court Judge Cesar Ylagan ordered the destruction of the narcotics which was part of about 250 kilos of shabu seized from a condominium unit registered to a certain Sandra Lim at the Somerset Mansions on Leveriza St., Pasay City, on Dec. 26, 2000. The drugs were deposited in the evidence room of the NBI dangerous drugs section, forensic chemistry division.

In his report to Ylagan, dated May 2, 2002, deputy sheriff Rodolfo Toledana said the drugs were supposed to be transported to the boiler incinerator of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Alabang, Muntinlupa City for destruction.

A report by Toledana dated May 2, 2002 said the 8.67 kilos of shabu contained in five plastic bags were discovered missing during an inventory made by the sheriff of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court and by the Dangerous Drugs Board on April 18. A re-weighing later conducted by the NBI showed that the actual missing drugs were only 7.37 kilos.