The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has confirmed that three international drug rings are the major source of shabu in the country.
The three transnational drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) with major illegal transactions locally include the United Bamboo Gang (Bamboo Triad), 14K Triad or Hongkong Triad, and Sun Yee On Triad.
PDEA Director-General Aaron Aquino branded them as three of the most powerful DTOs involved in the global illegal drug market.
These triads, who have their roots in dialect groups, trade guilds or political movements, are now responsible for much of the world’s drug trafficking and vice establishments.
“Intelligence reports indicated the participation of 14K Triad in the dismantled shabu laboratories based on various financial documents such as money transfer receipts, bank accounts, deposit slips to various banks and telegraph transfer receipts to Mexico that were recovered in the operation,” Aquino noted.
He said these DTOs can ship up to three tons of shabu into the country either through shipside smuggling in the high seas, or airports and seaports.
“In shipside smuggling, these DTOs cook their shabu in the high seas, dumped their contrabands overboard and retrieve them afterwards through nets as evidenced by the discovery of a floating shabu laboratory off the coast of Zambales on July 12, 2016.
To recall, two tons of cocaine bricks were reportedly thrown overboard into the waters of Eastern Samar by a Chinese vessel in 2009,” Aquino said.
“They also deliver illegal drugs in nearby coastal areas and bury them to be recovered by their local contacts,” he said referring to the 180 kilos of shabu worth P900 million that were unearthed in Barangay Culao, Claveria, Cagayan on July 3, 2016.
“These three drug triads are making the Philippines their playground. They are resorting to drug smuggling, either finished product or raw materials, and cook shabu in high seas because of the dismantling of several major shabu laboratories offshore lately.” the PDEA chief said.
The Ninoy Aquino International Airport Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group (NAIA-IADITG) led by PDEA is strengthening its efforts to intercept the trafficking and transit of illegal drugs in the country’s major airports.
To curb drug smuggling through the ports, PDEA will establish seaport interdiction units in its regional offices and enhance cooperation with the Philippine Navy and Philippine Coast Guard to seal off our waters from illegal drugs.