P20 M worth of chemicals for shabu manufacture seized

Some P20 million worth of chemicals and equipment used in the manufacture of metamphetamine hydrochloride otherwise known as street drug “shabu” were confiscated by operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Rodriguez police when they raided a warehouse suspected to be serving as a “shabu” factory in Montalban yesterday morning.

Newly-installed Rizal provincial police director Senior Superintendent Ireneo Dordas, said the police failed to arrest two suspected operators of the warehouse namely Alex Carolina Gozon 35, alias “Erick Alarin,” said to be the owner of the warehouse and his alleged partner, Chinese national Jhon Ang, 45, both residents of 9-C Pangilinan Compound, Project 6 in Quezon City.

Police said a composite team of PDEA and Rizal PNP operatives swooped down on the warehouse located in Barangay San Jose, Rodriguez at around 10:50 a.m., armed with a search warrant issued by Judge Apollo Mantala of the Rodriguez Municipal Trial Court.

The raiding lawmen found numerous chemicals, paraphernalia and equipment used in the large-scale manufacture of “shabu.”

The confiscated items were brought to the PNP Crime Lab in Camp Crame.

It was learned that the said warehouse, reportedly situated in an isolated part of Barangay San Jose, has been the subject of police monitoring for about a month after they were tipped off about the likely illegal activities happening inside.

Manhunt operations are reportedly ongoing to effect the arrest of Gozon and Ang.