Shabu chemical also sourced from India, says NBI official

MANILA, Philippines – With authorities closely monitoring all shipments coming from China, smugglers and dealers of the main ingredient for shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride are now also getting their supply of ephedrine from India, an official of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said yesterday.

Lawyer Roel Bolivar, head of the NBI’s Reaction, Arrest and Interdiction Division (RAID), said that illegal drug manufacturers are reportedly looking elsewhere for ephedrine after law enforcement agencies in the country tightened its monitoring and surveillance of air and sea shipments from China.

“There are times that importation of illegal drugs and precursors chemicals from China laid low because of the law enforcement agencies’ drive against illegal drugs. So drug traffickers would go to India as another source,” Bolivar said.

India was once reported as a source of ketamine, a drug that has the same effect as ecstasy pills and other party drugs.

But he said the illegal use of ketamine had a very limited market in the Philippines since majority of drug addicts prefer shabu.

“We have high quality of shabu here in the country,” he said.

Bolivar said that the topography of the Philippines, with its long coastline and more than 7,000 islands, makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to monitor the entry of all forms of aircrafts and vessels.

“Illegal drugs and precursor chemicals also enter and leave the country through seaports and airports because the equipment, not necessarily the chemicals, can be loaded in airplanes. It may also enter through economic zones,” he said.

The NBI also has to invest time to conduct surveillance, gather data on the operations, and develop deep penetrating agents before they could bust illegal drugs syndicates.