P500-M shabu seized in Malabon townhouse

MANILA, Philippines –  Police confiscated at least P500 million worth of shabu as well as precursor chemicals and equipment used in the manufacture of the illegal drug in a raid on a townhouse in Malabon City yesterday.

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said Unit 1 of the Silverwood Townhouse in Barangay Potrero was rented out to Chinese nationals Qing Gou Nian and Dave Go, who were arrested in a drug bust two days ago. The two men were reportedly caught selling 40 kilos of shabu with a street value of P200 million.

NCRPO chief Director Nicanor Bartolome said the raid is the third operation conducted under case operation plan “Ice Meltdown,” aimed at catching known drug suppliers. Methamphetamine hydrochloride, better known as shabu in the Philippines, is also known as “crystal meth” or “ice.”

“This is a continuation of the operations we conducted in the last quarter of last year, including the arrest of two Chinese nationals two days ago in Caloocan. This is the third of a series and we expect a continuation of this,” Bartolome said.

He said that based on the quantity of chemicals and the kind of equipment found in the townhouse unit, it was safe to assume the residence was used as a kitchen-type shabu laboratory.

Raiders found in the two-story, six-room unit an undetermined quantity of shabu in crystal form, ready for packing and distribution; several chemicals including binding agents (sodium hydrochloride), caustic soda, and “liquid shabu” in several one-gallon containers inside one of the rooms. Liquid shabu needs only to be processed to be turned into its crystalline form.

Sleeping mats; protective gear, apparently used while “cooking” shabu; and several traveling bags similar to those seized from Qing and Go two days ago were found in other rooms.

No foul smell

Bartolome said Qing and Go’s neighbors were “totally unaware” that the townhouse had become a shabu laboratory, and police are looking into how the pungent odor of cooking shabu was apparently neutralized.

“They seem to have countered the odor. We would like to know the system. They might be using new procedures” or devices, he said.

In the past, kitchen-type drug laboratories are often detected by police when neighbors complain of a foul smell.

The suspects’ neighbors in the 20-unit compound, inhabited mostly by Chinese nationals, said they never thought a drug lab would be there because the raided unit is beside the guardhouse and overlooks the gate.

The residents also noticed that while they wanted more air coming into their houses, the unit occupied by the suspects had a blue plastic sheet covering the whole veranda.

Two guards who knew about the suspects have reportedly resigned after the two men were arrested. A source said they were “cringing in fear” when they filed their resignation. – With Non Alquitran, Pete Laude