Son of San Juan politician behind shabu lab, cops say

A son of a politician based in San Juan was tagged by the country’s police chief as the brains behind the makeshift shabu laboratory that yielded P100 million worth of illegal drugs and related paraphernalia during a raid last Friday.

Aside from the politician’s son, identified by the code name "Dragon Head" by Philippine National Police chief Director General Leandro Mendoza, businessmen who may have financed the syndicate’s operations are also being investigated by anti-narcotics agents of the PNP.

"Dragon Head" was allegedly involved in a number of drug scandals in the past but police authorities have refused to touch him.

The possible involvement of the politician’s son and legitimate businessmen was given credence by investigators who wondered why the drug syndicate chose San Juan, hometown of jailed former President Joseph Estrada, as their base.

It was further noted that the bungalow housing the makeshift laboratory, located at Araullo and Montessori streets in Barangay Addition Hills, was unguarded and open to scrutiny unlike a similar laboratory raided in a tightly secured Pasig subdivision. Seven Chinese nationals, all of them working as chemists in the laboratory, were arrested during Friday’s raid.

"We asked ourselves why they are bold enough to make San Juan as their base of operations. They seemed to be confident that nobody would touch them," an anti-narcotics official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The STAR.

Even Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina admitted in a TV interview that the shabu laboratory could be related to narco-politics. "We are digging deeper to catch and prosecute them," said Lina of politicians behind the improvised shabu factory.

The anti-narcotics official likened the shabu laboratory’s presence to jueteng, stressing that a certain town, city or province cannot host the illegal game without the "blessings" of local authorities.

And as in jueteng, local officials would shield themselves by conducting daily, "stage-managed" raids at gambling dens accompanied by media.

During his tenure, jailed former San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada launched a "shame campaign" against suspected drug pushers, users and criminals in his municipality. At the height of his political career, the young Estrada even proclaimed San Juan as "drug-free."

The same official claimed that legitimate businessmen hiding behind "legal fronts" are financing the operations of the drug syndicate.

"We are tracing how the syndicate raised such big amount of money to support their operations," he said, citing the expensive and sophisticated imported equipment seized in the shabu lab.

At least three mechanized mixers, rotation and fermentation equipment worth millions of pesos, which only big pharmaceutical companies can afford, were confiscated in the raid conducted by PNP Narcotics Command chief Director Efren Fernandez and his men.

A fourth such equipment was found inside a newly delivered box, the official said.

The PNP is conducting an "intense case buildup" against the politician’s son and the financiers of the syndicate to pin them down, he added. Also seized Friday were 213 kilos of ephedrine, 208 bottles of ethanol, and 284 gallons of acetone.

Fernandez said the group has been manufacturing high-grade, class A shabu in the country for almost a decade now, and the factory has been moving from place to place to prevent detection by police authorities. Production was estimated at about 200 kilos a month, worth approximately P500 million.

And because of highly toxic chemicals used in the manufacture of shabu, the syndicate has been shifting personnel every three months as a preventive health measure, Fernandez said. Workers handling the chemicals are likely to develop ailments of the lungs, liver and skin.

The syndicate was using three of the five rooms of the bungalow as makeshift laboratory. One was for the sleeping quarters of the seven Chinese chemists, while a spare room was used to store the chemicals and materials.

The house was rented from its owner by a certain Johnny Wong Aquino for P30,000 a month. A narcotics official said they are now tracing Aquino’s relation to the politician’s son.