PDEA: P2-B shabu either made locally or smuggled into Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Approximately 461 kilos of shabu, with a street value of P2 billion, seized from two warehouses in San Fernando, Pampanga last Friday could have been manufactured in the area or smuggled into the country, officials said yesterday. 

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) spokesman  Derrick Arnold Carreon said the presence of ephedrine, an ingredient in the manufacture of shabu, could mean that the warehouses were shabu laboratories.

“But the absence of laboratory equipment and the warehouses’ location – being near Subic – could also mean that the drugs were smuggled into the country,” Carreon said.

Last year, agents of the Philipine National Police-Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (PNP-AIDSOTF) seized more than 400 kilos of shabu in Subic.

PDEA director general Arturo Cacdac Jr. said the combined volume of shabu contained in balikbayan boxes was estimated at 461 kilos or with a street value of P2.305 billion.

Shabu is estimated to be worth P5 million per kilo. 

The raiding team also seized 10 sacks of ephedrine, each estimated to weigh 25 kilos.

Carreon said the seized ephedrine had an estimated value of P50 million. 

Twenty-nine more sacks of suspected shabu were confiscated in the same operation, each estimated to be weighing 25 kilos.

Initial tests showed the sacks contained methamphetamine worth around P3.6 billion. 

“If all the contents of the sacks tested positive for shabu, the overall value of the haul can be over P5 billion,” Carreon told The STAR.

He said the PDEA was verifying the background of the four Chinese nationals arrested in the operation.