P2-B shabu seized in Pampanga raid

MANILA, Philippines - At least 185 kilos of shabu, with a street value of P2 billion, was seized and four Chinese were arrested during a raid on a storage facility in Pampanga yesterday.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) director general Arturo Cacdac Jr. identified the four as Jayson Lee, Willy Yap, Neil Tan and Ying Huang, reportedly Lee’s wife.

Operatives of the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operation Task Group (AIDSOTF) and PDEA seized 185 kilos of shabu as well as 925 kilos of ephedrine, a chemical used in the production of shabu, which  could produce P8 billion worth of the drug, also called methamphetamine hydrochloride.

The finished product, found in seven balikbayan boxes, was hidden inside a Mitsubishi Montero. Operatives also found drugs in two pieces of luggage.

AIDSOTF spokesman Chief Inspector Roque Merdegia said they raided the rented warehouse in Greenville Subdivision in Barangay San Jose, San Fernando by virtue of two search warrants issued by Quezon City Judge Fernando Sagun Jr.

PDEA director general Arturo Cacdac Jr. said the agency’s Special Enforcement Service, under Director Ismael Fajardo, conducted almost five months of surveillance on the warehouse and its occupants.

The owner of the warehouse said the Chinese had been renting the facility since January, but he noticed that it was always closed.

Meanwhile, the AIDSOTF expressed disappointment at the acquittal on Thursday by a Pampanga regional trial court of three of five Chinese  arrested for maintaining a shabu laboratory in 2008.

“The acquittal is big blow on the government’s campaign against illegal drugs... The three should remain and rot in jail for the rest of their lives,” Merdegia said.

Angeles City executive judge Omar Viola sentenced Wang Chun Ri and Lin Asi to life imprisonment, but acquitted Yang Pei Zi, Yang Liang Zao and Yang Hong Liang, all residents of Fujian province.

The AIDSOTF said the three acquitted Chinese were “hardcore members” of a big drug syndicate operating in Southeast Asia. – With Ric Sapnu