Herrera asks Mendoza to arrest manufacturer of shabu in QC

Rep. Ernesto Herrera (Lakas, Bohol) urged Deputy Director General Leandro Mendoza, the new Philippine National Police (PNP) chief to order a manhunt for the operator of a clandestine shabu laboratory in Banawe, Quezon City.

Herrera, founding chair of the Citizens’ DrugWatch Foundation Inc., was referring to Chinese national Luis Ang, also known as Luis Ang Perez, said to be one of the major shabu traffickers operating in the country.

PNP-Narcotics Group agents stormed Ang’s two-storey apartment at 577 P. Florentino st., Barangay Lourdes last Wednesday.

Seized from the apartment were five liters of liquid shabu worth P10 million and laboratory equipment that agents said were capable of producing at least 20 kilos of shabu a week.

Unfortunately, Ang was not around when his apartment was raided.

"It is obvious that until his laboratory was discovered and dismantled, Ang was on top of a massive illicit operation that produced up to 140 kilos of shabu worth P280 million each week," Herrera, former chair of the Senate special committee on illegal drugs, said.

In a report submitted to newly appointed PNP chief, police Deputy Director General Leandro Mendoza, Chief Superintendent Reynor Gonzales of the PNP-Narcotics Group said that the raid was conducted to follow-up the lead on the associates of Chinese national, Yim Tat Chow, arrested last year in connection with the consecutive seizures of 75 kilos of shabu on Dec. 10 and 15, 2000.

Police Deputy Director General Jewel Canson, Drug Law Enforcement and Prevention Center executive director, said the discovery and the dismantling of the said clandestine laboratory is a big blow to the local drug trade.

"In a month, it can produce 80 kilos of shabu. In a year, 960 kilos can cause unimaginable damage to the Filipino community if it lands in the hands of drug traffickers," Canson said. – Jaime Laude