Shabu lab busted in Pampanga

Anti-narcotics agents scored anew in their campaign against illegal drugs as they busted a shabu laboratory in Floridablanca, Pampanga yesterday.

Joint operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and Pampanga police found millions of pesos’ worth of chemicals and equipment used in making shabu at a house in Barangay Consuelo, Floridablanca town.

Authorities invited for questioning the caretaker of the house, Renie Reyes, who identified the operator of the shabu lab as Eugene Bao, a Chinese national, an initial PDEA report said.

Chief Superintendent Errol Pan, Central Luzon police director, also identified a certain Peter Pei and Caroline Dy, also both Chinese nationals, as Bao’s alleged co-operators of the illegal facility.

PDEA information office chief Derrick Carreon said the raid was conducted by virtue of a search warrant issued by the Pampanga regional trial court.

“It was a storage facility housing chemicals. Our men in the field are still conducting an inventory of the seized chemicals. They are also conducting follow-up operations,” Carreon said.

Senior Superintendent Keith Ernald Singian, Pampanga police director, said his men discovered the shabu lab while looking into a land dispute in the area.

Chief Inspector Val Lopez, head of PDEA’s Complaints and Reaction Unit, said they were verifying the involvement of some “Chinese nationals” in illegal drug operations in the area.

Singian said he dispatched a team to look for one Vilma Dimarucut, said to be Bao’s wife, who bought the one-hectare lot where the shabu lab was put up sometime in 2004.

Last week, PDEA agents also dismantled another shabu lab in Masbate City, seizing shabu precursors, essential chemicals and equipment.

PDEA director general Dionisio Santiago said the apartment where the shabu lab was put up was rented by Chinese national Lin Cui Feng, alias Jeffrey Villegas, and a certain Ronald Gabriel, alias Tandodoy, who were both not around during the raid. – With Ric Sapnu