Pubdate: Thu, 30 Mar 2006
Source: Manila Times (Philippines)
Copyright: 2006, The Manila Times
Contact:  http://www.manilatimes.net/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/921
Author: Ma. Aleta O. Nieva
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

SYNDICATES SHIFT SHABU PRODUCTION

A NEW sign of how lucrative the illegal drugs trade is that syndicates
are now manufacturing drugs on yachts offshore to elude police
authorities, the Task Force Against Illegal Drugs reported Wednesday.

Police Director Marcelo Ele, task force chief, disclosed that his unit
has not moved against the yachts suspected of operating as clandestine
shabu laboratories because it does not have the speedboats.

At a forum at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, Ele said the
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency also does not have ships to go
after the drug syndicates operating offshore.

Ele disclosed that the agency is now coordinating with the Philippine
Coast Guard and military to expand its monitoring operations against
drug syndicates.

Reports disclosed that the syndicates produce shabu aboard private
yachts. They then ship the shabu in smaller boats to points where the
drug is distributed through the syndicate's local network.

This new strategy allows the syndicates greater mobility and makes it
more difficult to arrest them, Ele said.

The task force's series of successful raids on land-based shabu labs
have made the drug so scarce that one kilo of high-grade shabu is now
worth P5 million. "That means P5,000 per gram," he noted.

"The shabu supply is scarce while the demand is high, making its price
even higher," Ele said. 
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MAP posted-by: Tom