3 nabbed, P100-million shabu seized in San Juan

MANILA, Philippines - Police arrested yesterday three persons who yielded 20 kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu with a street value of P100 million during a drug bust in San Juan City yesterday.

Deputy Director General Arturo Cacdac, deputy chief for operations of the Philippine National Police (PNP) said Taiwanese Lin Hong Seng and Lin Hong Beng, and Chinese Hong Heng Hung had been the subjects of an Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) operation plan for several months.

Cacdac, who concurrently heads AIDSOTF, said his men failed in several attempts to arrest the suspects because the Chinese insisted on being paid through the banks they specified.

On Saturday night, one of the suspects called up Superintendent Ismael Fajardo, seeking to sell two kilos of shabu for P4.8 million, Cacdac said.

Superintendent Roque Merdegia, AIDSOTF’s legal officer, said Fajardo and his team were waiting for the suspects near a hospital when one of them called up and moved the venue to Wilson street.

Merdegia said the suspects wanted to have a clear look at the money before pushing through with the transaction. As soon as one suspect handed over the two kilos of shabu in exchange for P4.8 million to an undercover police officer, Fajardo’s team moved in and announced the suspects’ arrest, Merdegia said.

He said a subsequent search of the suspects’ Nissan Cefiro yielded 14 kilos of shabu while the Toyota Altis yielded four kilos. Merdegia pointed out that the two kilos of shabu were locally made while the 18 kilos found in the cars were imported.

“They are selling the locally made shabu for P2.4 million a kilo while those coming from abroad is for P3 million a kilo,” Merdegia said in an interview.

The three Chinese are undergoing tactical interrogation to determine whether they belong to a big-time illegal drugs syndicate. “We are still in the process of tracing their addresses and other contacts,” Merdegia said. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe