Condo raid yields P120-million shabu; manhunt on for owner

MANILA, Philippines - Police launched yesterday a massive manhunt against the Filipino-Chinese whose rented condominium unit in Quezon City yielded 24 kilos of shabu worth P120 million.

Deputy Director General Raul Bacalzo, deputy chief for operations of the Philippine National Police and concurrent head of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) dispatched a crack police team to follow up all leads for the eventual arrest of suspect Joshua Tan.

Bacalzo also coordinated with the Bureau of Immigration and the National Bureau of Investigation to determine the background of Tan, and prevent him from leaving the country.

AIDSOTF raiders said that Tan identified himself as a businessman and was often monitored in restaurants in Binondo, Manila and in Quezon City.

“A police team is now hot on his trail. We are hoping to get him so we could dig deeper into the drug syndicate he belongs,” said Bacalzo.

A team headed by Superintendent Roque Merdegia, AIDSOTF legal officer, swooped down at the condo unit rented by Tan at 15 Trafalgar Mansion, Esteban Abada street, Varsity Hills in Barangay Loyola Heights in Quezon City at about 3 p.m. Tuesday following a tip from an informer that a big shipment of shabu is being kept there.

Merdegia said they were armed with a search warrant issued by Fernando Sagun Jr., of the Quezon City regional trial court.

The informant led Merdegia and his men to an open space under the stairs leading to the second floor where two brown boxes, yielded six plastic bags containing shabu.

The condo owner claimed that Tan rents the unit for P35,000 a month for almost a year now.

Tan, who speaks fluent Tagalog, started receiving Chinese-speaking visitors, since June. Each time, the building security guards tried to approach Tan’s visitors to strike a conversation, but the foreigners would distance themselves from them, said Merdegia.

“We have no picture of Tan yet. But we are working our butts out to arrest him,” said Merdegia in an interview.