2 Chinese caught with P150-M shabu

MANILA, Philippines - Police arrested two Chinese men and seized around 30 kilos of shabu, which has a street value of P150 million, during a sting in Quezon City yesterday morning.

Geng Qingchuan, 35, and Yao Xiangfan, 28, were caught in a drug bust at the parking lot of a condotel at the intersection of Ramon Magsaysay and Araneta Avenues at around 9 a.m.

Director Joel Pagdilao, National Capital Region Police Office chief, said police officers from the NCRPO’s Regional Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Group made the arrest.

The lawmen also seized a gray Toyota Innova (TWQ-280) the suspects had been using during the transaction.

Pagdilao said yesterday’s sting is part of the NCRPO’s intensive drive against illegal drugs in Metro Manila. At least 131 suspected drug traffickers were arrested and 31.19 kilos of shabu have been confiscated over the past two weeks, he added.

Last Monday, Li Gongli, 36, a native of Fujian, was arrested in a sting in Barangay New Lower Bicutan, Taguig.

100 kilos of shabu on Metro Manila streets?

Meanwhile, police officials fear that more than 100 kilos of shabu is available on the streets, said Chief Inspector Roque Merdegia, Anti-Illegal Drug Group spokesman.

The shabu may have been smuggled out of a warehouse in Valenzuela City before police officers caught two Filipino-Chinese men transporting 36 kilos of the illegal drug from the warehouse on Tuesday.

Police officers found 148 empty foil packs, used to conceal the shabu, at the warehouse. Each foil pack contained a kilo of shabu, Merdegia said.

The shabu, believed to have been manufactured abroad, was reportedly smuggled into the country, hidden in a shipment of brand new milling machines.

“The shipment arrived on Saturday and we raided the warehouse on Tuesday,” Merdegia said.

He said police officers are hunting down two Chinese and three Filipinos believed to be part of a syndicate behind the drug smuggling.

The AIDG identified them as Yan Sheng Hsun, alias Ah Ti; Lin Chia Ming, alias Ah Meng. The Filipinos were only known by their aliases Inday, Lucas and Paulo.

Merdegia said they received reports that shabu costs only P750,000 a kilo if bought directly from smugglers but this reaches P5 million a kilo on the streets. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe