NBI finds ‘shabu’ lab inside Korean’s condo unit

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Tuesday raided a condominium unit in Quezon City and discovered a makeshift “shabu” (crystal meth) laboratory allegedly operated by a Korean national who was arrested in Manila on Sunday.The NBI said that prior to his arrest, Kim Jung-kil had been singlehandedly manufacturing illegal drugs inside the unit, which he started renting on Nov. 5.

The suspect’s neighbors complained to the NBI about a sharp smell emanating from the unit last month, according  to Ross Galicia, chief of the bureau’s Task Force Against Illegal Drugs.

After an initial surveillance, NBI agents secured a search warrant and went to the condo located in Barangay Sto. Cristo, Quezon City on Tuesday around 4 p.m.

“What’s unique about this was that he was working alone,” Galicia  said of Kim, who remained in detention after his earlier arrest in a buy-bust operation by the Manila police.

Photos released by the NBI to the media showed that a stove had been installed in the condo unit’s bathroom, just beside the toilet bowl. Bottles of chemicals (some labeled “muriatic acid”), beakers and tools were found inside the wardrobe cabinet.

Several packs of suspected shabu were also found inside the unit.

“He was ordering his (drug-making) equipment online. The security personnel were not checking [the packages] because they were brought in by reputable delivery companies,” Galicia told the Inquirer.

Kim reportedly arrived in the Philippines in 2016 on a tourist visa.