Seized chemicals, equipment intended for shabu lab - PDEA

MANILA, Philippines - The setting up of a shabu laboratory has been foiled with the seizure of a shipment of chemicals and laboratory equipment at the Port of Manila last Tuesday, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said.

In an interview Tuesday night, PDEA director-general Jose Gutierrez Jr. said the smuggling of the chemicals and equipment was connected to the raids on drug laboratories in Ayala-Alabang and Caloocan recently.

“The raids happened so close to the arrival of the shipment,” Gutierrez told reporters.

Gutierrez said the shipment came from Taiwan, alleged to be the source of chemicals being used by shabu manufacturers in the Philippines.

Director Adrian Alvarino, chief of PDEA’s audit and monitoring team, said it was the fifth chemical and drug equipment shipment intercepted by authorities since Jan. 13.

The contraband was in a 20-foot shipping container that was declared to contain glassware and plastic bottles.

Aside from the glassware, three reactor vessels, a globe-shaped equipment used to mix chemicals to produce shabu, and funnels to separate chemical mixtures and condensers were found in the shipping container.

Authorities also seized more than 80 grams of sulfuric acid, which could be used to crystallize the shabu, and caustic soda, which is used to separate chemical mixtures.

Another shipment, which contained drug paraphernalia, was seized on Jan. 17 

Gutierrez said that while these chemicals and equipment have legitimate use, the lack of import permits and misdeclaration bolstered suspicions that they would be used for a shabu laboratory.