By AARON RECUENCO
Police anti-narcotics agents seized more or less P3 billion worth of shabu in two separate buy-busts in Makati City and Las Pinas City that started on Tuesday night.
Lt. Gen. Archie Gamboa, officer-in-charge of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said a total of 388 kilos of shabu were confiscated in two operations which he described as the biggest drug haul this year
Gamboa said the operation started at around 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday on Banuyo Street in Barangay San Antonio in Makati City.
Nabbed was Liu Chao, a Chinese who was described as the safekeeper of the seized shabu
The shabu were hidden in large travelling bags and other places in the apartment rented by Chao. Police said the illegal drugs were ready for distribution.
Gamboa said that Chao rented an apartment in Makati City two weeks ago, the purpose was for the storage of illegal drugs.
But Chao reportedly started selling shabu through his contacts, which in turn, resulted in the police monitoring it.
“There were a series of test buy, from one kilo to six to seven kilos. After this, an operation was conducted last night (Tuesday),” said Gamboa.
Realizing that he was transacting with a policeman, Chao ran away and went inside the apartment where the police found the shabu.
In a follow-up operation at around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, two alleged couriers of Chao were collared in a buy-bust in Barangay Manuyo in Las Pinas City.
They were identified as Joel Bustamante and Merwin Bustamante, both residents of Malabon.
Confiscated from them were 17 plastic packs containing shabu, each pack weighed one kilo.
“Said arrested suspects are the courier of Mr Liu Chao, a Chinese citizen, who was arrested earlier by the same operatives in Makati,” the police report read.
Authorities have been declaring that there are no longer shabu laboratory in the country, raising question as to where the seized shabu came from.
Gamboa said that they believed the illegal drugs were possibly smuggled anew.
“This is usually transported by air or by sea. But definitely, these came from outside (country),” said Gamboa
After the illegal drugs were received by local contacts, they were then distributed in various parts of Metro Manila and other areas.
At the height of the drug war, some trusted men of President Duterte were dragged into controversy on the repeated smuggling of tons of shabu through the Bureau of Customs.
The officials implicated in the shabu smuggling were sacked but were appointed to new positions.
