54 crates of shabu chemicals seized in Bulacan warehouse

CITY OF SAN JOSE DEL MONTE, Bulacan — Anti-narcotics agents confiscated 54 crates of hydrochloric acid, a shabu precursor, and eight drums of an unknown substance in two barangays here.

Joint operatives of the police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) swooped down on the storage sites, two days after suspect Benny Abellanoza, along with his two helpers, transferred the chemicals to the area.

Senior Superintendent Benedict Michael Fokno, Bulacan police chief, said that his men initially discovered 34 crates of hydrochloric acid and six drums of the unknown substance on Saturday evening in Barangay Paradise.

Subsequent follow-up operations conducted by AIDSOTF, however, resulted in the discovery of 20 more crates of hydrochloric acid and two more drums of the unknown substance in an abandoned house in Sarmiento Homes in Barangay Muzon.

Acting Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Deputy Director General Ricardo de Leon said the chemicals were stored in nearby Barangay Gayagaya but Abellanoza transferred them to the storage sites after the police busted the clandestine shabu laboratory operated by drug syndicate leader Johnson Chua in Apo St., Barangay Sta. Teresita Heights in Quezon City last May 10.

"They were trying to hide the chemicals. We are lucky to have traced the crates which they transferred here last Saturday night," said De Leon as he cited the role played by Barangay chairman Rey Cardona.

De Leon said Abellanoza is the brother of Jay-R Abellanoza, who was arrested inside the shabu laboratory in Quezon City.

In the Quezon City raid, the raiders recovered 6.8 kilos of ketamine with an estimated street value of P34 million.

The busted shabu laboratory was traced after Chua’s right hand man Melchor Martinez was arrested by AIDSOTF agents during a buy-bust operation a week earlier, also in Quezon City. — With Non Alquitran