PDEA nabs HK men linked to drug lab in Pasay condo

“High living” took on a new meaning on Tuesday night as the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) found a suspected “shabu” (crystal meth) laboratory at a condominium unit in Pasay City.

The “kitchen-type drug laboratory” was discovered on the 16th floor of Oceanaire Luxurious Residences after several drug busts that resulted in the arrest of five Hong Kong nationals with alleged links to the 14K or Hong Kong Triad drug syndicate.

“This is the first time we saw a kitchen-type laboratory in a studio unit where the ideal capacity of the production is quite high,” PDEA spokesperson Director Derrick Carreon told reporters on Wednesday.

“Usually, such kitchen-type laboratories only produce from 3 to 10 kg per cycle (roughly a week). What we saw last night could produce 40 or even 50 kg per cycle,” Carreon added.

PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said the drug busts and the discovery of the shabu laboratory were the results of surveillance operations that ran for four months.

“We noticed that (the suspects) were bringing into the condo unit big pieces of luggage believed to be stuffed with shabu. Our conclusion was that they were smuggling into our country crystallized shabu, which they would later repackage,” he added.

Arrested were Lin Hua Sen, Lam King Wah, Wong Ka Lok, Lam Wing Bun and Lam Ming Sun, the last two believed to be the “chemists” directly involved in the making of the drug.

Lin was the first to be apprehended on Roxas Boulevard, Manila on Monday followed the next day by Lam and Wong, who were arrested on Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque City. The chemists were the last to be picked up by PDEA agents.

The drug lab was found holding 80 kg or P544 million worth of shabu, while the suspects were caught carrying a total of 23 kg more, PDEA said.

The total drug haul of 103 kg could fetch P700.4 million if sold in the streets, it added.