Police raid shabu warehouse in Tondo

Operatives of the Western Police District (WPD) raided an abandoned unit of a four-story condominiumin Tondo, Manila yesterday afternoon. Chemicals and paraphernalia allegedly used in the manufacture of shabu were seized.

Police swooped down on a building located at 1753 Abad Santos Avenue in Tondo after Alex Chan, the building’s owner, sought police assistance in breaking into the building’s basement, which had been padlocked and abandoned by its lessee who mysteriously disappeared.

Chan identified the missing tenant as Eugene Que Tan, reportedly a trader from Valenzuela City. Chan said Tan stopped going to his rented unit about a month ago.

The basement, which was converted into a small warehouse, yielded sacks labeled as PVC Resin, which police suspect as ephedrine, the main ingredient in the manufacture of shabu. There were also large bottles of suspected thionyl chloride and acetone, weighing scales, mixers or dryers, a large oven and large glass funnels.

"These chemicals and paraphernalia are indicators that the place was used for the manufacture of shabu," said Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr., chief of the WPD’s District Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operations Group.

The seized chemicals and equipment will be brought to the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory for examination.