PDEA agents make an inventory of shabu seized from a condominium unit in Pasay City the other night. The drugs, valued at P727.6 million, were found in a ‘kitchen-type’ drug laboratory.
Five Hong Kong nationals were arrested.
The unit in a posh condominium building in Pasay City converted into a medium-scale drug laboratory can produce about 50 kilos of shabu in one week, an official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said yesterday.
PDEA spokesperson Derrick Arnold Carreon said this was the assessment of their forensic chemists following the raid on the unit at the Oceanaire Luxurious Residences Tuesday night.
Unlike other shabu laboratories they have discovered, which can only produce only 10 kilos in one cycle or a week, the one lawmen raided in Pasay has the capacity to manufacture more narcotics, he said.
“Considering the ingredients are already there, it’s safe to say they produce 40 to 50 kilograms in a week,” Carreon said in a news briefing at Camp Crame.
Around 80 kilos of shabu worth P544 million and other chemicals were found in the clandestine laboratory.
Five Hong Kong nationals connected to the shabu laboratory were arrested in separate sting operations since last Monday.
One of the suspect is Lin Huan Sen, 42, who was arrested in front of a hotel along Roxas Boulevard in Manila on Monday. PDEA agents confiscated 20 kilos from him.
The other four caught on Tuesday are Lam King Wah, 35; Wong Ka Lok, 38, who were arrested in Parañaque City; and Lam Wing Bun, 52, and Lam Ming Sun, 56, apprehended in Pasay City.
Aside from Metro Manila which is a lucrative market for drug syndicates, Carreon said the group was most likely targeting Central Luzon and Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) regions as areas of distribution.
Citing the information provided by their counterparts from China, Carreon said the suspects could have smuggled the drugs from the southern part of the country, specifically at the Zamboanga Peninsula.
“May indicator dito na back door, possibility looking into Zamboanga as one of the possible points of entry,” he said.
Carreon said they are investigating the management of the condominium building for possible lapses.
“Was there due diligence on the part of the owner to prevent such a thing from happening. So we will go into that,” he said.