Sy’s business links targeted

Drug busters are gathering evidence against a chemical products supplier at the Ortigas Center, believed to be one of the business fronts of Benito Sy, tagged as the man behind the operations of the raided shabu laboratories in the country.

The Anti-Drug Special-Operations Task Force (AID-SOTF), which has vowed to go after Sy and his coddlers, are now trying to find out the source of raw materials seized in recent raids of shabu laboratories in Las Piñas and Quezon City. The task force was able to identify a chemical firm from documents seized in the raids.

"We are looking for hard evidence linking the chemical firm to the transnational drug syndicates headed by Sy," said an AID-SOTF agent, who pointed out that they would file necessary charges against the company if the evidence warrants such action.

Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay, AID-SOTF chief, admitted his men have been deployed in several parts of the country for the manhunt against Sy, known as Benito Sze in the Chinese community, and a certain Jackson Ty. Teams are also investigating companies that may have been used as fronts in their illegal drug operations.

"We are looking for Sy and Ty, and, at the same time, trying to find out how the drug syndicates managed to sneak into the country large quantities of raw materials used in the manufacture of shabu," Aglipay said in an interview.

Reports reaching Aglipay showed that Sy was previously involved in several businesses, including fish, scrap metal buy-and-sell and importation of mini-trucks.

The AID-SOTF chief admitted his men are conducting surveillance missions on Sy’s possible business links, but like the chemical firm, no details were provided so as not to jeopardize ongoing follow-up operations.

"What I can assure you is that we are moving forward and we expect to have a clearer picture as to how drug syndicates operate in the country at the soonest possible time," Aglipay said.

Superintendents Federico Laciste Jr. and Nelson Yabut have been working overtime to determine the identities of the two other Chinese men who accompanied Sy in the delivery of raw materials to the shabu laboratory in Las Piñas last June 17. Sy’s companions took turns in supervising the unloading of their cargo from a parked 40-footer van.

Task force members have been presenting photos of known drug personalities to witnesses. Laciste and Yabut said they are pursuing other angles in the investigation of the busted shabu laboratories, but they refused to elaborate.

"We are tracing Sy’s connections but we cannot divulge our initial findings as yet because we might alarm our targets," Yabut said.

They also refused to discuss developments in their effort to locate and arrest Sy and his associate, Ty. But they pointed out that they have been receiving "encouraging" reports from the field.

Aglipay has called for the public’s cooperation in the hunt for Sy and Ty. He has distributed photos of Sy to regional units nationwide, a copy of which saw print in The Star the other day.

"We urge the public to help us in our effort to arrest Sy and his associates," Aglipay said. Persons with information can call Aglipay at his cellular phone number 09178131310.

Meanwhile, the Parañaque City police have begun scanning files that might be stored inside a personal computer unit found inside the shabu laboratory rented by Sy.

Senior Superintendent Ronald Estilles, Parañaque City police chief, told The STAR that he has instructed his men to pull out a personal computer believed to have been left behind by Sy and his cohorts in their haste to leave the house they rented in Merville Park Subdivision.

During the July 14 raid at 25 New York street in Merville, police found the computer along with clothes and pictures left by the occupants.

"We have to decode the files stored because there might be documents that could help us not only locate Mr. Sy’s whereabouts but his other business deals, protectors and contact persons," he said.

So far, his staff has only retrieved one name — a female residing in Barangay Moonwalk, Parañaque City. "It appears that she is an employee of a domestic airline. We have been to her house, but she was not there," Estilles said.

Testimony by Michael Fandag, one of Sy’s hired help, revealed that the house was where they picked up cargo that was transported to Sy’s house in Merville.

The Parañaque police chief said they are still waiting to file drug charges against Sy, but are still waiting for the laboratory results from the PNP crime laboratory in Camp Crame.

Once a case is filed, authorities would be required to get a warrant from a judge before apprehending him. He is also hopeful that the person who acted as the suspect’s broker in renting the Merville house, would agree to act as a witness.

In a related development, Estilles said a homeowners association in the city has proposed that the local police, in coordination with Mayor Joey Marquez, barangay officials and homeowners, conduct a census of residents to prevent rented houses from being turned into shabu laboratories .

"One of the presidents of a subdivision proposed that we conduct a census in every home so we will be able to create a profile for each house. They would be fielding several questions to determine the number of occupants, the nature of their work and the identities of visitors," he added.– With Evelyn Macairan