Pubdate: Wed, 11 May 2005
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer (Philippines)
Copyright: 2005 Philippine Daily Inquirer
Contact:  http://www.inquirer.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1073
Author: Luige A. del Puerto
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?158 (Club Drugs)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Philippines

NEW DRUG MIX FATAL TO USERS-PNP

A DRUG syndicate is trying to create a more powerful drug by mixing
ketamine, a sedative used in animals, and metamphetamine
hydrochloride, popularly known as shabu.

But the combination could be deadly to users, Philippine National
Police Deputy Director General Ricardo de Leon warned the public on
Wednesday.

"The drug has a very dangerous effect, and is definitely more harmful
to the brain," De Leon said, quoting reports from the police chemical
laboratory unit.

De Leon issued the warning after narcotics agents discovered 97 grams
of mixed ketamine and shabu in a clandestine laboratory on Apo Street
in Quezon City on Tuesday.

Agents also found 6.8 kilograms of ketamine worth around P34 million,
several grams of shabu, and ephedrine, a chemical used in the
manufacture of shabu.

Police arrested J.R. Avellanosa, caretaker of the house, during the
raid.

"The operators are experimenting with shabu and ketamine. They may be
trying to create a new drug. This is the first time we've seen this
kind of mix," De Leon said.

The chief of the Central Police District-Crime Laboratory said that
ketamine is a hallucinogen, while shabu is a stimulant.

"You are awake, and appear to be on cloud 9, but actually, you could
be like a walking robot," Sr. Insp. Filipinas Francisco-Papa said in
describing the sensation of a person who has taken the combined drugs.

Francisco-Papa added that the user may no longer know what is
happening around him. That is worse than taking shabu or ketamine
alone, she added.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the police's
Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Task Force consider ketamine, and the new
combination (ketamine and shabu) as "date-rape drugs."

A gram of ketamine costs around $90 dollars, and is now considered a
dangerous drug.

De Leon said the big-time drug syndicate, allegedly ran by Johnson
Chua, has been manufacturing ketamine because "they are experimenting
with a ketamine shabu combination."

De Leon said that the Quezon City laboratory had produced 10 kilos of
ketamine and this had been sent abroad.

Chua has been linked to the Quezon City laboratory and another one in
Cagayan de Oro that was raided last Monday.

He reportedly headed a syndicate that operated a shabu laboratory in
Davao City that was raided by authorities on New Year's eve.

Police on Wednesday also presented to the media, Melchor Martinez,
alias "Mr. Wong" and "Tata," a Chinese national and Chua's alleged
right hand man.

Agents had seized a kilo of shabu worth P1.2 million from Martinez in
a buy-bust operation last week.

Using information supplied by Martinez, agents raided a Cagayan de Oro
warehouse last Monday. The raid yielded 10 plastic drums of chemicals
believed to be shabu.

The discoveries were an indication that drug lords could be shifting
their operations to Mindanao and the Visayas, according to PDEA
Director General Anselmo Avenido Jr. 
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