NCRPO asks 5 Chinese in drug raid: Who's the chemist?

MANILA, Philippines - The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) strongly suspects that one of the five Chinese nationals arrested in a drug raid in Sta. Ana, Manila last week is a chemist.

This came after the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) certified that the raw materials and equipment recovered at a unit in Euro Villa Homes are for the manufacture of shabu.

“We are looking into the possibility that the group was manufacturing shabu in their condo unit because of the presence of two dryers inside. Hopefully, the PDEA is helping us determine who among the suspects is the chemist,” said NCRPO chief Director Roberto Rosales.

Among the items confiscated in the condominium unit were 20 kilos of shabu, which the PDEA certified as “high-grade” and raw materials that are of the same make as those seized from a clandestine shabu laboratory in Taguig City.

According to Rosales, the drug syndicate mixed the chemicals for the manufacture of shabu somewhere else and brought them to the condo unit for “drying.”

“They could not mix the raw materials in the condo unit because it could attract attention with their pungent smell,” Rosales said in an interview.

A police team headed by Superintendent Leo Francisco arrested last Thursday Ming Yuan Yuet, 40; Danny Tan, 30; Aga Co, 33; Eugene Co, 32, and Michelle Lee, 24, all natives of China.

Francisco said the five suspects are not cooperating in their investigation to determine the source of the confiscated illegal drugs, raw materials and equipment. “We are asking who among them is the chemist but they choose to remain silent,” he said.

He said two containers seized in the condo unit contain the same shabu chemicals recovered during a recent NCRPO raid on a shabu laboratory in Taguig City.

“They belong to the same drug syndicate that we busted in Taguig City. But like the three other Chinese nationals we nabbed in Taguig, the five suspects have also kept their mouths shut,” Francisco said.

He said the recovered raw materials and equipment must have come from China because of the markings and packing tape used in sealing the boxes.

Francisco said a list of the suspects’ names were among the evidence they seized in the Taguig shabu laboratory. He said the suspects were monitored frequenting casinos and restaurants, where they were seen “throwing away” huge amounts.

The NCRPO has filed appropriate charges against the suspects before the Manila prosecutor’s office.