Cops dismantle mini-drug den in Sta. Cruz

MANILA, Philippines - Police demolished yesterday a two-story house in Sta. Cruz, Manila they described as a mini-drug den following an anti-drug raid Tuesday.

The tiangge, located near a railroad track on Elias street in Sta. Cruz, was raided after several weeks of surveillance due to the reported presence of suspected drug users frequenting the place.

Some 42 people, including errand boys and the alleged maintainers of the suspected drug den, were rounded up during the raid. Others were caught using methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) and marijuana inside several rooms of the house.

Sta. Cruz police station chief Superintendent Romulo Sapitula, who led the raiding team, said drug users can buy shabu at the house for P500 and rent any room for P5 to P10 to use the shabu.

Police recovered hundreds of pieces of aluminum foil with traces of shabu in the rooms. However, the raiders failed to arrest the drug supplier. Thirty of the people rounded up tested positive for drug use.

Sapitula likened the house to a smaller version of the Pasig drug den that was raided in 2006.

At around 4 a.m. yesterday, police started to demolish the house with the approval of the city government and the Bureau of Fire Protection. The dismantling was done by 7 a.m.

“We will seal off the area to prevent the drug maintainer from operating again on the place,” Sapitula said, even as the investigation is still ongoing to unmask the drug lord and the financier of the mini-drug den. – Nestor Etolle