Shabu lab tipster richer by P1 million

MANILA, Philippines - The informant in the raided P10 billion shabu laboratory in Taguig City will be richer by more than P1 million.

The National Capital Regional Police Office is readying documents for submission to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for the informant to get what is due him as reward for the neutralization of the shabu lab.

NCRPO chief Director Roberto Rosales said initial estimates showed that the informant is entitled to a reward of more than P1 million. “The informant would most likely receive more than P1 million in reward considering that the neutralized shabu laboratory could be worth P10 billion or more,” said Rosales in an interview.

It was the informant who walked in at Rosales’ office and guided elements of the NCRPO’s Regional Police Intelligence and Operations Unit in conducting months of surveillance operations at the shabu laboratory located at No. 5 Carlo Drive, Mañalac Subdivision in Barangay Bagumbayan. RPIOU chief Superintendent Leo Francisco conducted a buy-bust operations which resulted to the arrest of William Altejeros, alias Charlie Sy Lim, 40, and Goufu FU, 30, after handing over half a kilo of shabu in exchange for P4 million. At the height of the tactical interrogation, Altejeros and Fu admitted their role in the operation of the shabu laboratory.

Armed with a search warrant issued by Pateros Judge Isagani Geronimo, Francisco and his men raided the shabu laboratory, which Deputy Director General Eduardo Acuña, commander of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) said was the biggest to be neutralized in the country so far.

Rosales said the informant also worked for the neutralization of another clandestine shabu laboratory in Cainta last year. In the Cainta raid, the informant also received at least P1 million as reward money.

“We are now in the process of determining whether the shabu laboratories in Cainta and Taguig City were operated by the same drug syndicate,” said Rosales.

Altejeros and Fu were charged Monday with violation of Section 5 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs law or selling of illegal drugs before the Taguig City prosecutor’s office. No bail was set against them.

Francisco said the PDEA is now in the thick of their examination on the P10 billion worth of recovered sophisticated equipment and raw materials to determine their quantity, quality and purity.