Raid on Parañaque condo yields P12-M shabu, ecstasy

Authorities arrested 25 Chinese nationals and a Chinese-Filipino on Wednesday in a raid on a condominium unit that was reportedly being used as a drug and cybercrime den.

Two kilos of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) with a street value of P12 million were seized by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Bureau of Immigration and Southern Police District from a unit at Bayview International Tower 3 in Parañaque City.

Among those arrested were Chang Qiang, Wang Wen Yong, Zhou Tao and Wang Yan, 21 other Chinese nationals and Chinese-Filipino Joshua Cayetano who yielded an ecstasy tablet and an improvised tooter.

PDEA-National Capital Region assistant director Gil Castro said the unit was probably being used as a drug laboratory as shown by the tenants’ “unusually high consumption of electricity and water.”

The occupants had claimed to be call center agents but they were found to be involved in cybercrime operations such as credit card fraud and electronic phishing, he added.