Pubdate: Tue, 20 Jul 2004 Source: Philippine Star (Philippines) Copyright: PhilSTAR Daily Inc. 2004 Contact: http://www.philstar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/622 Author: Non Alquitran and Christina Mendez,The Philippine Star P5-M SHABU BUST NETS 3 Police have arrested two Chinese nationals and a Filipino who yielded more than two kilos of shabu with an estimated street value of almost P5 million during a buy-bust operation in Quezon City. Nabbed were Yan Quan Wong, alias Johnny Ong, 30; Zhi Gen Wang, alias Jorge Ong, 34, both natives of Fujian, China; and Rox Ramos, 31, of Heroes Hills, Quezon City. The two Chinese nationals and their Filipino cohort were arrested after they handed over two kilos of shabu to the men of Superintendent Eduardo Acierto, of the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AID-SOTF) during a transaction at the corner of Quezon Avenue and West Avenue. Acierto said an informant arranged for the purchase of shabu from the suspects who arrived in the designated area on foot. The trio was presented before the media yesterday by AID-SOTF chief Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay, Dangerous Drugs Board executive director Jose Calida and Ret. Gen. Rodolfo Caisip, deputy director of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). Aglipay said Yan and Zhi even offered a P300,000 bribe to their captors in exchange for their release, but the AID-SOTF officers turned it down. During tactical interrogation, the suspects revealed that the illegal drugs came from Quiapo, Manila, the AID-SOTF chief said. Aglipay ordered the filing of drug pushing, illegal possession of shabu and attempted bribery charges against the Chinese nationals and Ramos. Meanwhile, a South Korean national was collared by the anti-drug unit of the Mandaluyong City police while in the act of buying shabu from a pusher. Superintendent Ericson Velasquez, Mandaluyong City police chief, said an informant came to him and told him about a drug transaction involving a bigtime drug pusher, a certain Lando, along Boni Avenue, in Barangay Plainview. Last Monday, police proceeded to the area and caught Saek Joo Kim, 31, a resident of Millennium Towers in Makati City, while in the act of buying shabu. Four grams of shabu were seized. Lando managed to escape on board a motorcycle. Velasquez ordered a manhunt against him. Meanwhile, the anti-illegal drugs unit of the Western Police District (WPD) seized yesterday suspected shabu chemicals and paraphernalia from a warehouse in Tondo, Manila and submitted them for laboratory examination following the securing of a warrant. "The laboratory analysis will finally confirm whether the seized chemicals are indeed ingredients in making shabu," District Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operations Group (DAID-SOG) chief Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr. said. At the same time, Pedrozo said his unit is currently monitoring other warehouses in Manila suspected as being used for storage or laboratory in the manufacture of shabu. Submitted for laboratory analysis were 12 gallons of chloroform liquid, seven containers of acetic acid, two sacks of sodium oxide, eight large plastic sachets containing white crystalline substance, several bottles of hydro fluids and thinyl chloride and several plastic bottles of sulfur powder. Two electric weighing scales, mixers, dryers and a large oven will serve as evidence in filing charges against the suspected lessee of the warehouse. Pedrozo and his men swooped down on a warehouse located at 1753 Abad Santos Avenue corner Quiricada street in Tondo last Saturday that led to the discovery of chemicals and paraphernalia in the manufacture of shabu. Pedrozo said the suspected shabu laboratory had been the subject of a month-long surveillance of his unit. with Nestor Etolle - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D