EDITORIAL - P2-billion haul

Four hundred kilos – that’s a lot of shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride, which anti-narcotics agents seized Sunday in a subdivision in Subic town, Zambales. The drugs were reportedly stashed in two balikbayan boxes and 22 traveling bags and were being loaded into a van when the raiders pounced.

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority has stressed that the drugs, with an estimated street value of P2 billion, did not come from the Subic Bay Freeport. The source of the drugs, however, has not been established. Police said the drugs were apparently being repacked in a house at the Sta. Monica Subdivision in Subic’s Barangay San Pedro before distribution in Manila. The house did not have a shabu laboratory so the drugs were not made there.

Authorities must establish the source of the drugs. The huge amount indicates there could be more where it came from, and the key players must be caught. If the drugs were in fact brought in through the Subic Freeport, where smuggling of products including luxury vehicles and fuel has been reported for some time, leaks must be plugged to prevent more drug trafficking.

This is one of the biggest shabu hauls in the country, and authorities must ferret out everyone involved in the operation, from the financiers to couriers. Protection is needed for such a large-scale operation; investigators must smoke out law enforcers and government officials who might have served as coddlers of the group. International links must be established, and if the drugs were smuggled in, their protectors at ports of entry must be caught.

There have been other large drug hauls in the past. Many of the raids failed to yield the brains, raising suspicion that they were tipped off by their protectors in government. In the war on drugs, it’s not enough to seize the banned substance; the principal operators must be caught.