Manila: Government operatives led by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency swooped on a warehouse in northern Metro Manila’s Malabon and sized shabu worth an estimated P1 billion (Dh69 million).
Director General Aaron Aquino of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said an operation conducted by a combined team of operatives from the customs, armed forces, coast guard and the police swooped down on the Goldwin Commercial Warehouse in Malabon last May 23 and seized aluminium pellets containing some 146 kilogrammes of crystalline methamphetamine hydrochloride — more commonly known in the Philippines as “shabu.”
Aquino said government agents were able to collect information about the presence of shabu at the Goldwin Warehouse based on information they had gathered from mobile phones they seized from suspects in two earlier operations.
“This seizure of illegal drugs is both connected to PDEA’s Dasmariñas Cavite operation last February 13 with seizure of 36kg of shabu worth P244 million (Dh17 million) and the Tanza Cavite operation last February 3 wherein 274kg of shabu worth P1.9 billion (Dh132 million) was taken,” Aquino said.
The seizures of the illicit substance were considered to be among the biggest hauls by government anti-drug agencies.
In the case of the shabu at the Goldwin Warehouse, the illicit cargo had been concealed as a shipment of tapioca starch consigned to local firm Goroyam Trading.
A city adjacent to the Port of Manila, Malabon City are increasingly being used as a trans-shipment point for drugs and raw materials used in the manufacture of illicit substances.
In April 2018, the PDEA raided a warehouse in the village of Tinajeros and seized chemicals used in the manufacture of shabu and the party-drug, “ecstasy.”
A similar operation by PDEA the same month in the village of Santolan also yielded a similar stash of illicit drugmaking chemicals.
Despite the government’s perceived gains in its war against drugs, President Rodrigo Duterte himself said the menace “had worsened.”
During the campaign rally last month in Malabon City, the President, who had promised to eradicate the drug problem, said his crackdown against illegal drugs has “failed.”
