|
Monday, December 08, 2003
Shabu mini-lab raided in Batangas
By Miko Santos
A COMPOSITE team of agents from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) raided on Saturday a mini-shabu laboratory in barangay San Rafael, Santo Tomas, Batangas, arrested the maintainer and seized recycled shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) worth at least P20 million.
Arrested during the raid was the alleged owner of the shabu lab identified as Luisito D. Enumerable, 36, a welder, who has been convicted earlier in another drug trafficking case.
Enumerable is listed in the police's order of battle (OB) of drug suspects and is believed to be among the biggest shabu distributors in the provinces of
Batangas, Laguna and Cavite.
The raiding team found about 20 kilos of shabu in liquid form inside a refrigerator, chemicals and paraphernalia used in the manufacture of shabu.
His jeep was also seized, based on reports he use it to transport finished shabu to various towns in the province.
The raid on the laboratory inside a house at Saint Lazarus Village was conducted on the strength of a search warrant issued by Judge Teodoro Tapia of the Batangas City Regional Trial Court (RTC).
The mini-shabu lab had been operating for two months before the raid.
NBI Narcotics Division chief lawyer Ruel Lasala said he learned of Enumerable's illegal activity while still the bureau's regional director in Batangas two years ago.
It was his agents who raided Enumerable's shabu laboratory in Taal where several kilos of shabu were also seized.
He eluded the raid and disappeared without a trace. But an NBI informant traced him to Santo Tomas last month and subsequent surveillance confirmed this.
Lasala said the confiscated materials were used to recycle low-quality shabu and turn it into better-quality substance. A kilo of low-grade shabu can be turned into half a kilo of high-quality shabu through a series of processes, he said.
Also seized in the raid were a burner, cooking pots, a dryer, bottles of ethyl alcohol, activated charcoal, plastic sachets and a digital weighing scale.
Lasala said Enumerable admitted that he got his supply of low-grade shabu from a source at the Salam Mosque Compound in Culiat area, Quezon City.
(December 8, 2003 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[ return
to top ]
[ home
]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
|
