EDITORIAL - Get the operators

There are about two shabu laboratories in every city in Metro Manila, an anti-narcotics agent told an interviewer this week. The statement was issued days after agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency conducted raids in Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa. The raids yielded shabu manufacturing paraphernalia and three kilos of the prohibited substance. Five Chinese employees were arrested but the principal operator was nowhere to be found.

The fact that the principal operator eluded arrest is not uncommon in drug raids. This has given rise to speculation that illegal drug laboratories continue to flourish in this country because the operators have protectors who tip them off about a looming raid. The rare times that operators are arrested, they either escape from high-security detention centers or else are allowed to post bail by corrupt judges, even if the amount of drugs involved does not allow provisional liberty for the accused.

Around the world drug trafficking is one of the most lucrative illegal businesses. Drug dealers can afford to invest what in this country can be considered a fortune to pay off law enforcers, judges and even immigration officers. Even when they are already convicted and behind bars, drug traffickers can pay off their guards. Drug dealers can dangle irresistible amounts to hire mules, even if it means risking execution for drug trafficking in countries such as China.

When drug raids are conducted, those supervising the raiding agencies must put a premium on the arrest of the operators themselves. At large, those operators can simply find another house in the numerous gated, guarded, secluded villages in Metro Manila, set up another laboratory and quickly start manufacturing shabu again.