AidSOTF files charges against Chinese over shabu warehouse in Caloocan

Police will file charges today against a Chinese national believed behind the operation of a shabu warehouse in Caloocan City, which yielded 1,157 boxes of assorted shabu ingridients worth P5 million.

To be charged with illegal manufacture of dangerous drugs or controlled precursors and chemicals before the Caloocan City prosecutor’s office was Tang Pao Tan, 24, of 558 8th Ave., Caloocan City.

Deputy Director General Ricardo de Leon, head of the police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) said his men are closing in on Tang, a native of Xiamen, China who arrived in the country October last year.

A certification issued by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) showed that Tang is still in the country, said De Leon. "He has not yet left the country and we are getting information from informants of his possible whereabouts," said the AIDSOTF chief.

De Leon said the AIDSOTF’s legal team headed by Senior Inspector Suver Gonting is presently conducting investigation on the culpability of the warehouse owner, Hua Ping and his property administrator, Eufemia Young.

"Once we gather enough evidence against them, then we have to file appropriate charges against Hua and Young," De Leon said.

Tang rented from Young the warehouse located in the corner of Tirad Pass and Evagelista Streets, Bagong Barrio since Aug 3. The rent was P43,000 a month.

Tang’s Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR) showed that he entered the country as a tourist last Oct. 29, 2004.

Combined operatives from the AIDSOTF, local police and barangay officials, headed by Senior Inspector Eleazar Matta raided the warehouse last week and confiscated boxes of chemicals including thionyl chloride, pyridine, ethyl alcohol, , acetone and chloroform, all materials used for the manufacture of shabu.

Matta said Tang and his cohorts were not around when the raid was conducted in the presence of barangay chairman Ryan Raul Zamuco.

It was Zamuco who discovered the boxes of chemicals while inspecting the warehouse which was operating without a business permit from the city government.

The AIDSOTF forwarded to the crime laboratory in Camp Crame all the seized evidence for thorough examination.

De Leon said they have yet to receive the report of Chief Superintendent Ernesto Belen, director of the crime laboratory, regarding their findings on the seized items. – Non Alquitran