Broker linked to shabu lab to air side

MANILA, Philippines - A customs broker who allegedly rented a house used as a shabu laboratory in Parañaque is supposed to appear before police investigators tomorrow, an official said yesterday.

David Du “has a lot of explaining to do,” particularly on the presence of five Taiwanese in the two-story house he was renting, said Superintendent Ismael Fajardo Jr., chief of the Special Operations Unit of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF).

Documents recovered by Fajardo showed that Du had been renting the place for P27,000 a month since 2008. The rent contract expired last year but Du is paying the rent religiously until the place was raided last Aug. 19.

Fajardo said one of the vehicles of Du’s brokerage firm was monitored entering the compound located along Santisima Trinidad street in San Antonio Valley 12 during AIDSOTF’s surveillance operation.

Police officers recovered chemicals and shabu worth P150 million during the raid, which also resulted in the arrest of Tsai Horng, Yu Kun Lin, Huang Yung Yung Chun, Cheng Yu Teng, and Hsu Yun Pong.

Fajardo said the seized chemicals were consigned to Tsai, who speaks the local dialect, and had been in and out of the country.

The five Taiwanese claimed they are in the country to buy bonsai plants that they exported to Taiwan. Fajardo said they are currently closely monitoring four other Taiwanese seen entering the Paranaque compound at the height of their surveillance operation.