Pubdate: Sat, 19 Feb 2005
Source: Manila Times (Philippines)
Copyright: 2005, The Manila Times
Contact:  http://www.manilatimes.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/921
Author: Anthony Vargas
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Philippines

SHABU NOW PRODUCED FROM MINI LABS-PNP

DRUG syndicates behind the operation of clandestine shabu laboratories have 
shifted to smaller, less-traceable guerrilla-type operations to avoid 
detection, a ranking police official said Friday.

This was uncovered after antidrug agents seized four gallons of ephedrine, 
which can produce at least four kilos of high-grade shabu worth P8 million, 
in a raid in San Fernando, Pampanga.

The ephedrine, which is the key ingredient in making shabu, was confiscated 
from the P26-million Model House 3 on Coconut Street at the Hacienda Royale 
Subdivision in Barangay Lara, San Fernando. The house is owned by one Jaime 
Tan.

Deputy Director General Ricardo de Leon, chief of the PNP Anti-Illegal 
Drugs Special Operation Task Force, said drug syndicates "are no longer 
keen in operating large shabu laboratories" because of the success of the 
government's antidrug campaign.

"[Instead drug syndicates] have shifted to small-scale operation using 
small laboratories that they can easily disassemble and move to another 
place," de Leon said.

He said drug syndicates operate mini laboratories set up inside small areas 
or houses so they can easily be concealed.

A disadvantage of using a small laboratory, he said, is that drug 
syndicates are unable to produce high-grade shabu, or methamphetamine 
hydrochloride.

He explained that cramped quarters, with a little room to manufacture 
shabu, don't promote the production of shabu to match the quality produced 
in larger laboratories.

"Their end product is no longer of high quality and this could be the 
reason why, based on reports we are receiving, shabu supply in the market 
is now diluted," de Leon said.

Early Thursday morning combined agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement 
Agency (PDEA) and the PNP raided a house in a posh subdivision in Paranaque 
City.

The house, located at 8 Joy Street, Multinational Village, yielded a 
mini-shabu lab in one of its rooms and agents have seized chemicals and 
almost four kilos of finished product of shabu.

The police have taken into their custody a woman who is said to be the 
girlfriend of the mini-lab operator identified as Jacky Yuen, who was able 
to escape after his wife revealed what was inside the house.

The PDEA chief, Undersecretary Anselmo Avenido Jr., said that this is the 
fifth shabu laboratory to be discovered inside the subdivision. --with Dino 
Balabo
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