Shabu lab in Zamboanga busted

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Police and anti-narcotics agents busted a suspected shabu laboratory in a remote village, east of this city and arrested three suspects, police said yesterday. The raid was conducted after villagers of Barangay Lamisahan complained of obnoxious smell coming from an isolated compound Friday afternoon.

City Police director Senior Superintendent Manuel Barcena said three Filipino caretakers were invited for questioning and government agents are now tracking down four to five Taiwanese nationals who were believed to be the operators of the shabu laboratory, first time to be discovered in this city.

Names of the suspects were not made available pending the ongoing operation.

“The laboratory was discovered after the villagers complained of obnoxious odor coming from the compound,” Barcena said.

Barcena said the raiding team did not recover finished shabu crystalin, but recovered several small drums containing chemicals believed to be ephedrine, an active ingredient for manufacturing of methamphetamine hydrochloride or locally known as “shabu.”

Shabu, an illegal drug, works directly on the brain and spinal cord by interfering with normal neurotransmission.

Barcena said the team also recovered a hydrogenation apparatus. The recovered chemicals and apparatus were brought to the police crime laboratory for further investigation.

The three caretakers who were invited alleged that the laboratory already produced three times of its products and are being traced as to the location of the shipments. – Roel Pareño