Semi-processed shabu dumped in Zambo lot

ZAMBOANGA CITY – Combined police and anti-narcotics agents discovered a huge quantity of semi-processed shabu, believed part of those manufactured in a shabu laboratory busted weeks ago, dumped in a vacant lot in a remote village in this city, authorities said yesterday.

An oversized tubular glass-like tooter and a huge porcelain cylinder were also recovered in the lot along Marcos Drive in Barangay Putik Wednesday morning, said Superintendent Adzhar Albani, regional director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Albani said chemical powder packed in several transparent plastic bags was scattered in the vacant lot.

The boxes containing the semi-processed shabu were first noticed on Monday by a farmer who saw children, who mistook the chemical substance for fertilizer or powdered tawas, playing with it and dumping part of it into a nearby creek.

Albani said initial investigation showed that the semi-processed shabu could be part of those made in the busted shabu lab in the remote village of Lamisahan.

“This could be part of the evidence they (shabu lab operators) have scattered to avoid detection,” he said.

The suspected shabu lab operator, a Chinese national named certain Yan Wen Yi, 42, alias Andy Yang, 42, has been committed to the City Reformatory Center along with his three Filipino workers. Yan’s compatriot, Lucky Ong, and his wife, Janet, remain in police custody.

City Mayor Celso Lobregat said the discovery is a result of the city’s strong campaign against illegal drugs.

City state prosecutor Ricardo Cabaron urged the PDEA and police to gather all evidence so they can file an airtight case against the suspects.

Scene-of-the-crime operatives, assisting the PDEA, so far recovered an estimated 30 kilos of the unrefined shabu.

“There could be more of this intermediate shabu products contained in three carton boxes,” Albani said.

The recovered substances will be tested at the police crime laboratory. An earlier test yielded about 300 milliliters of liquefied shabu.

Director Jaime Caringal, Western Mindanao police chief, said they are probing the possible connections of the busted shabu lab to an international drug syndicate.