Pubdate: Fri, 13 May 2005
Source: Philippine Star (Philippines)
Copyright: PhilSTAR Daily Inc. 2005
Contact:  http://www.philstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/622
Author: Non Alquitran
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?158 (Club Drugs)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/areas/Philippines

DRUG LAB INFORMANT TO RECEIVE P.5M

The informant that helped anti-narcotics agents bust a laboratory for
illegal drugs in Quezon City last May 10 will receive a P500,000 reward.

Chief drugbuster Deputy Director General Ricardo de Leon and
Undersecretary Anselmo Avenido, of the Philippine Drug Enforcement
Agency (PDEA), are currently working for the approval of the reward to
be given to the informant known only by his call sign "JL."

"The computation showed that the informant should receive a P500,000
reward," said de Leon, adding Avenido was consulted on the reward allocation.

De Leon, who heads the Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operations Task
Force (AID-SOTF), said JL is being handled by Senior Inspector Dominic
Baccay, an officer of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group
(CIDG). Baccay is currently detailed at AID-SOTF.

It was JL, a driver, who had alerted Baccay about the ketamine
laboratory located at the Padilla Apartments on Apo street in Barangay
Sta. Teresita, Quezon City early last month.

In his application for a search warrant from Judge Natividad Giron
Dizon, Baccay said he received information from JL that Melchor
Martinez, alias Wong and Tata, had been manufacturing ketamine in a
three-storey apartment building on Apo street.

Martinez, JL said, was the right-hand man of drug syndicate leader
Johnson Chua, who had operated busted shabu laboratories in Davao
City, Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro and Carmona, Cavite.

Last April 21, Martinez and his group took a delivery of ketamine in
Binondo, Manila and stored the illegal drugs at the Quezon City drug
laboratory. JL gave Baccay a sample of the ketamine as proof.

The informant also told the police official that ketamine was being
produced in a lab on the second floor of the apartment building. The
third floor was being used as a stockroom for precursors, equipment
and essential chemicals.

JL's report prompted Dizon, executive judge of the Quezon City
Regional Trial Court to issue a search warrant against Chua, Martinez
and Benedict Abellanosa, the caretaker of the apartment.

However, before combined AID-SOTF and PDEA agents could raid the drug
laboratory, Martinez was arrested by Baccay in a buy-bust operation
last May 2.

Martinez yielded a kilo of shabu worth P2.5 million. Seized from the
suspect was a white Toyota Corolla, which he used in his drug deals.

Last May 10, Abellanosa was arrested during the raid at the drug
laboratory, resulting in the seizure of 6.8 kilos of ketamine worth
P34 million as well as an undetermined amount of shabu.

Also confiscated were a plastic container with liquid ketamine liquid,
a weighing scale, a glass tooter, aluminum foil and a burner.

Initial tests by the Scene of the Crime Operatives (SOCO) of the
Central Police District (CPD), showed that Martinez and his group had
been experimenting on a new blend of drug that combined shabu with
ketamine. 
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