WHAT WENT BEFORE: Crystal meth facilities in PH

Authorities have seized multimillion pesos worth of  “shabu” (crystal meth) in the recent years, most of which came from facilities operated by Chinese nationals.

The biggest facility was discovered in November 2014 at Camiling in Tarlac province, where over P3 billion worth of shabu, raw materials and equipment for the manufacture of the illegal drug were seized. Six Chinese men who were on the premises were arrested.

In September 2014, antinarcotics agents raided two warehouses operating as shabu labs at two villages in San Fernando City, Pampanga province, and seized at least P4 billion worth of shabu and other illegal drugs. Four Chinese nationals were arrested.

In 2016, five labs and warehouses were separately discovered in the towns of Apalit, Arayat and Magalang and in Angeles City—all in Pampanga province.

In Angeles City alone, around P1.1 billion worth of liquid methamphetamine and equipment used in the manufacture of shabu were seized by antinarcotics agents and city policemen from a house supposedly used as a laboratory in a subdivision.

In July 2016, a 50-meter fishing vessel anchored off Subic in Zambales province was raided and found to be a floating shabu lab. Its occupants, four Chinese nationals, were arrested.

In October 2016, police raided a shabu laboratory in Cauayan City, Isabela province, and killed two drug suspects, including a Chinese national, in a clash. Police said the equipment found in the laboratory could produce 200 to 400 kilograms of shabu a day.

In November 2016, police discovered a shabu factory just 100 meters from the highway in Virac, Catanduanes province. Four Chinese men allegedly operated the laboratory but they reportedly disappeared a day before the raid. —Inquirer Research