PDEA destroys P2.2-B illegal drugs

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) yesterday destroyed some 500,000 grams of illegal drugs with estimated value of P2.2 billion at a facility in Trece Martirez City, Cavite.

 A total of 577.7 kilos of assorted illegal and regulated drugs – including shabu, ephedrine, cocaine, marijuana and diazepam – and expired medicine, were destroyed through thermal decomposition at the Integrated Waste Management Inc. in Barangay Aguado.

Thermal decomposition is the process by which compounds are broken down with the use of heat.

“A majority of the drugs was seized from last year’s anti-drug operations in Subic, Zambales and Lipa City, Batangas, and those turned over by the Quezon City Police District,” said PDEA director general Undersecretary Arturo Cacdac Jr. 

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday indicted six Chinese arrested by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in a raid on a clandestine shabu laboratory in Tarlac last week.

Prosecutor General Claro Arellano said the DOJ found probable cause to charge Sand Chai Wang, Xia Jian Jun, Xu Jian Dong, Hueng Zhogjie, Wang Xiao Bing and Zhan Zhi Long with possession and manufacture of illegal drugs, both non-bailable offenses, with the Tarlac City regional trial court.

Authorities seized P3 billion worth of shabu, chemicals, and equipment from the suspects following a raid on what was believed to be the biggest shabu laboratory in the country last Nov. 6. – With Edu Punay