MANILA, Philippines — Police raided yesterday a house in Greenhills, San Juan City allegedly being used as a laboratory for manufacturing shabu and seized P204 million worth of chemicals and drug-making equipment.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Guillermo Eleazar said the facility could produce at least 30 kilos of shabu in one cycle.
Eleazar said the house located along Arthur street in North Greenhills was being rented by a suspected drug trafficker.
Police refused to identify the suspect pending follow-up operations to arrest the other members of the drug ring.
“We are untangling a syndicate here. We have not arrested the suspects but we are in the process of a case build-up and their connection with the raids in other places. This is not only in Manila,” Eleazar said.
Operatives of the San Juan police, Eastern and Northern Police Districts, Intelligence Group and Directorate for Intelligence conducted the raid at around 7:30 a.m.
The raiders were armed with a search warrant issued by Judge Danilo Cruz of the Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 152.
Probers said they recovered shabu precursors, chemicals and equipment used in manufacturing drugs.
“This is an abandoned shabu laboratory,” Eleazar said.
Chief Superintendent Rolando Anduyan started the series of raids on drug facilities when he headed the Manila Police District.
When he was transferred to the Northern Police District, Anduyan tinkered with the telephone numbers he recovered from a drug suspect, which led to the arrest of Marvin Yu on Nov. 28.
The following day, Korean chemist Kim Jong Hee was apprehended in a drug sting in San Juan City.
Kim led policemen to a van in Pasig City where P2.2 billion worth of shabu precursors and equipment were confiscated.
Police also raided Kim’s residence in San Juan and recovered two kilos of shabu with an estimated street value of P13.5 million.
31 drug suspects fall
Meanwhile, police apprehended at least 31 persons in separate anti-narcotics operations in Metro Manila in the past two days.
In Quezon City, 18 suspects were nabbed in Barangays San Isidro Labrador, Bungad, Commonwealth, Socorro, Kaligayahan and Apolonio Samson.
In Navotas, an entrapment operation against an alleged gunrunner led to the arrest of 10 drug suspects.
Jhulius Simporios was nabbed after he sold a .45-caliber handgun for P15,000 to a policeman who posed as a buyer.
Police said they confiscated 59 sachets of shabu worth P100,000 and two firearms from the suspects.
In Valenzuela City, anti-narcotics agents apprehended three suspected drug pushers in Barangay Ugong. – With Romina Cabrera, Marc Jayson Cayabyab