3 more Chinese eyed in P1.9-B shabu shipment
Three more Chinese citizens are among persons of interest in connection with the P1.9 billion worth of shabu seized at a warehouse in Tanza, Cavite over the weekend.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) chief Aaron Aquino said yesterday that the three Chinese are all residents of Fujian, the hometown of the two Chinese citizens who were killed during a shootout with drug enforcement agents in Cavite last Sunday.
The two slain suspects were identified as Vincent Du Lim and Hong Li Wen.
Aquino did not identify the three other Chinese persons of interest who are alleged members of the Golden Triangle crime syndicate based in China and Hong Kong.
Citing information they received, he said one of the persons had recently returned to China while the other two are still in the country.
Aquino said one of the Chinese was involved in the preparation of the lease contract with the owner of the warehouse in Cavite.
He said the PDEA had already alerted the Bureau of Immigration to prevent them from leaving the country.
Aquino earlier said the Golden Triangle syndicate is likely involved, based on their initial assessment of the seizure of 274 kilos of shabu which they recovered at the warehouse.
Initial investigation showed that the shabu may have been shipped to somewhere in Northern Luzon and dropped off at sea then picked up by other members of the syndicate on board smaller vessels.
From Northern Luzon, the drugs were brought to Cavite by sea, evading security personnel at the the country’s seaports.
The primary distribution point of the shabu would be Metro Manila, according to Aquino.
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is monitoring the waters in Northern Luzon and conducting coastal patrols amid PDEA’s claim that the P1.9-billion shabu recently recovered in Tanza, Cavite could have part of a shipment that had been dropped off a ship and transferred to small boats to get to the mainland.
PCG spokesman Captain Armand Balilo yesterday said they intensified their coastal security patrols using aluminum boats and rubber boats.
He added that in Northern Luzon, the patrol is on a need-to-know basis. There are also monitoring control surveillance (MCS) ships, jointly being operated by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and PCG, in the area “so in case there is an operation, we can tap these BFAR boats. But these boats are primarily used for illegal fishing.”
Balilo also assured the people that the PCG is coordinating with PDEA to conduct anti-illegal drug operations.
Balilo said there are no big PCG ships deployed in Northern Luzon because five of their ships are assisting the military and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the anti-terrorism operations in Mindanao.
There were also PCG ships deployed in the Visayas region because of the heavy maritime traffic caused by recent festivals such as the Sinulog in Cebu and Dinagyang in Iloilo City. Even on ordinary days, half of the maritime traffic in the country is in the Visayas region since many islands can only be accessed by boats.