Zambo drug haul traced to ‘Golden Triangle’–PDEA

ZAMBOANGA CITY—The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in the Zamboanga Peninsula has raised an alarm over the growing volume of illegal drugs intercepted in the region, which, in one operation, led them to a syndicate operating in the “Golden Triangle,” the area where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet.

Jury Rocamora, an agent of the regional PDEA, said they found this development a cause for concern as it showed the extent of the proliferation of “shabu” (cystal meth) in their midst, with drugs believed to be smuggled into the region coming from neighboring Southeast Asian countries.

“We have confiscated a total of 8 kilograms in a matter of two months and one of the sources was traced to and came from the Golden Triangle,” Rocamora said on Wednesday.

Rocamora said the 8 kg of shabu seized from January to February had a combined value of more than P50 million.

Drug bust

On Feb. 24, PDEA agents arrested Sofia Caddabin Ibno, 23, a resident of Barangay Tumaga here and a former overseas worker in Malaysia, in a drug bust. They seized 1.2 kg of shabu, worth P8.6 million, from Ibno.

Ibno’s arrest led the police and PDEA to the Golden Triangle international drug ring, as the packs of shabu seized from her were believed to be part of the P1.8 billion worth of drugs recovered from the port of Manila.

“The packaging style we recovered, document for profiling purposes and what was intercepted in Manila and the drugs from her possession, were of the same color and label and numbering. Immediately PDEA concluded that they sourced out drugs from one shipment. They belong to one group,” Rocamora said.

Source

PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino was earlier quoted as saying that a drug syndicate operating in the Golden Triangle was behind the nearly P5 billion in drug shipments that had been intercepted by local authorities, including those seized in the port of Manila (P1.8 billion), Tanza town in Cavite province (P1.9 billion) and at Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa City (P1.1 billion).

Rocamora said the PDEA traced the shabu supply in this city from Malaysia.

“We can only say that dealers are taking advantage in smuggling items (to Zamboanga), among them drugs. All investigation leads us to Malaysia as their source, but shabu was [supplied by dealers from] Myanmar,” he said.