Cagayan de Oro shabu laboratory busted

DAVAO CITY— A joint anti-narcotics team from Southern and Northern Mindanao swooped down on a suspected shabu laboratory yesterday in Barangay Cugman, Cagayan de Oro City that yielded at least P20 million worth of shabu-making chemicals and equipment.

Members of a joint team from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) — Regions X and XI, raided a warehouse in Barangay Cugman at around 9:30 a.m., allegedly owned by one Stephen Gaisano but being rented to Johson Chua, also known as Greg Sia, David Sy and Juan Tan.

None of the suspects were nabbed.

The arrest was carried out by virtue of a search warrant issued by Municipal Trial Court Judge Eleuteria Balodes-Algudon.

Authorities, however, shall summon Gaisano to shed light on the rental agreement with Sia and his group.

Aside from the shabu laboratory in Barangay Cugman, police also earlier raided a similar facility in the nearby towns of Alubihib and Opol in Misamis Oriental last December.

Southern Mindanao chief Wilkins Villanueva told The STAR that the ones operating in Cagayan de Oro were actually the same people behind the operations of the clandestine shabu laboratory here in Davao City that was busted last New Year’s Eve.

The raid here yielded more than P300 million in shabu-making equipment and chemicals as well as high-grade shabu product.

A certain Allan Sy, who has remained at large, was reportedly the financier of the operations of the Davao shabu laboratory.

Six Chinese-looking foreigners were killed in the Dec. 31 raid on the shabu laboratory in Barangay Dumoy here. However, the six victims remained unidentified as no one claimed their remains, which were eventually donated to a local medical school here for research and study purposes.