Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, NPD director, said a PDEA team, led by Senior Superintendent Abe Lemos and assisted by Sub-station 4 commander Superintendent Mario Dapilloza, raided an unnumbered house on King Faisal street in Phase 2, Barangay 188, Bagong Silang at around 7 a.m.
The raid was conducted on the strength of a search warrant issued by Judge Ruben Roxas of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 12.
Suspect Bong Domato, the subject of the operation, was not around when the raid was conducted, the raiders said.
Seized were some eight kilos of shabu and a caliber .22 rifle.
"We were there to serve a search warrant against one Bong Domato, but our subject was not around. Instead, we discovered a storehouse that yielded some eight kilos of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia," Lemos said.
Lemos said the property — two adjacent houses with cubicles for drug sessions inside — is situated in the middle of a densely populated Muslim compound in Bagong Silang.
The first house, Lemos said, yielded three weighing scales, several used and unused transparent plastic sachets and a total of 540 grams of shabu.
In the adjacent house with two cubicles, the operatives found a plastic bag containing more than seven kilos of shabu and a caliber .22 rifle.
The raid was the result of a month-long surveillance and monitoring.
Superintendent Jimili Macaraeg, NPD intelligence and investigation division chief, said Domato, is considered not only the main source of shabu in Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela), but also in nearby Bulacan towns.
NPD director Chief Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil ordered his men yesterday to conduct a manhunt against the suspect in cooperation with the PDEA operatives.
Also held for questioning at the PDEA office on NIA Road in Quezon City were two girls, aged 15 and 18, caretakers of the raided house.
Bataoil ordered the minors to be accompanied by SPO1 Isabel Gracilla of the Caloocan City North Women’s and Children’s Concerns Desk (WCCD) to ensure that their rights are safeguarded.