Batangas police face probe after shabu lab raid

STO. TOMAS, Batangas — The whole police force here, including its chief, will be investigated after they were caught "flat-footed" during the latest shabu laboratory raid conducted by combined elements of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) last Friday.

Police Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Magtibay, Batangas police director, has ordered a thorough investigation of Sto. Tomas police chief Inspector Raul Tacaca and his men for failure to monitor an illegal activity within their area of responsibility.

The probe against the Sto. Tomas police force was pushed after the discovery of an alleged shabu laboratory at St. Lazarus Village in Barangay San Raphael here, which yielded around 10 to 15 kilos of recycled shabu amounting to approximately P30 million.

Arrested during the raid was the alleged owner of the shabu lab, Luisito Enumerable, 36, a welder, who had been convicted earlier in another drug-related case.

Enumerable is an escaped convict and is in the police order of battle and is believed to be a shabu distributor in Laguna, Batangas and Cavite.

The raiding team also confiscated improvised burners and various laboratory equipment used in making shabu.

"But I will continue to investigate why the Sto. Tomas police failed to set up a more reliable intelligence network to monitor this illegal activity," Magtibay added. — Arnell Ozaeta