NBI probes missing drugs

National Bureau of Investigation Director Reynaldo Wycoco ordered yesterday a probe on how nine kilos of shabu worth about P20 million disappeared from NBI safekeeping two weeks ago.

In a radio interview, Wycoco, who is in the United States, said the missing shabu had been "properly kept" in a safe at the NBI forensic laboratory.

"That is why I have detailed an investigative committee to get to the bottom of this," he said. "We want to know if the drugs are missing or were just lost in the labeling."

Wycoco said the NBI failed to make a proper inventory of the shabu after it was seized during a raid at the home of a suspected drug trafficker in Somerset Condominium on Leveriza street, Pasay City on Dec. 26, 2000.

"The reported loss of the drugs is still inconclusive," he said. "There just might have been an error in the labeling or in the numbering of the bags. But we are investigating it. We want to know when did this happen and who were the ones involved so sanctions could be imposed."

Wycoco said the team of investigators will be headed by Deputy Director for Intelligence Samuel Ong, and comprised of Lauro Reyes, Internal Affairs Division chief; Eric Quintos, a member of Wycoco’s staff; Rustico Vigilia, intelligence services; and Joseph Menzon, legal division.

Judge Cesar Ylagan of the Pasay City Regional Trial has ordered Wycoco to recover the shabu which had been used as evidence against Sandra Lim during her trial before Ylagan’s court.

Lim is now detained at the Pasay City jail.

After being presented as evidence, the shabu was kept in a safe in the forensic laboratory at NBI’s Dangerous Drugs Section and remained there until it disappeared.

Last May 2, Deputy Sheriff Rodolfo Toledana of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court reported to Ylagan and the Dangerous Drugs Board that the shabu was missing after he went to the NBI to make an inventory.

Toledana was supposed to take the shabu for destruction to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Alabang, Muntinlupa City last April 18.– With Nikko Dizon, Jess Diaz