4 cops ‘protecting’ meth lab in Subic busted

INVENTORY Antinarcotics agents make an inventory of the items and materials used to operate a drug laboratory inside the Subic Bay Freeport that was busted at dawn on Friday by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Unit and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. Four policemen from an antidrug unit of the Olongapo City police and a drug personality are arrested in the drug bust. —PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SUBIC BAY METROPOLITAN AUTHORITY

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Four policemen from an Olongapo City police anti-narcotics unit, including their chief, were arrested at dawn on Friday for allegedly protecting a “shabu” (crystal meth) laboratory operated inside this free port.

The policemen, all from the Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) of the Olongapo City police’s Station 2, were caught along with suspected drug personality Jerico Dabu, allegedly a member of an international drug syndicate, in a sting operation jointly conducted by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) around 12:30 a.m.

The arrested officers were Lt. Reynato Basa Jr., chief of Station 2’s DEU, and Corporals Gino de la Cruz, Edesyr Victor Alipio and Godfrey Duclayan Parentela.

Adrian Alvariño, director of PDEA-National Capital Region, said the laboratory was discovered after Dabu, in an attempt to elude arrest during a buy-bust operation, instead led police to the house where they produced the illicit drug.

Alvariño said Dabu tried to sell a kilogram of shabu to an undercover agent but, sensing it was a sting operation, he ran toward a house at Quarter 366-B Sangley Loop, Finback, West Kalayaan, here.

It was then that the joint operatives of the PDEA, the Philippine National Police’s CIDG and Maritime Group discovered the laboratory around 1 a.m.

The four police officers were nearby during the bust and were also arrested for being “lookouts” for the suspect.

The CIDG and the PDEA said the policemen served as alleged protectors and escorts of Dabu and had helped the latter dispose of the illegal drugs.

Kitchen type

Inside the house, the operatives discovered a “kitchen-type” laboratory, using improvised equipment and available chemicals in the market to cook the meth.

They also found the 300 grams of shabu the undercover operatives was buying from Dabu before he fled, along with another kilogram of the drug, various controlled precursors and essential chemicals used to make meth.

They also seized four 9-mm Glock 17 pistols from the arrested police officers and five cell phones.

The getaway car of the suspects, a Honda Civic bearing plate number UKM 779, was also confiscated.

The house has been under police surveillance in the past days, police said.

International syndicate

According to the CIDG, Dabu was an identified member of an organized crime group composed of Australian, European, Chinese, Canadian and Filipino nationals.

A Canadian was the one directly operating the laboratory and was now the subject of a manhunt operation, Alvariño said.

“This type of laboratory is common in Western countries, using improvised equipment and available chemicals in the market. The operation is under the case operational plan of PDEA-NCR and CIDG,” Alvariño said in a statement.

Alvariño said the laboratory was capable of producing 3 to 4 kg of shabu daily distributed mainly in Metro Manila.

“They have unlimited financial resources and contact persons as protectors. The raw materials are reportedly imported from other countries which were inserted in the legal shipments to mislead the authorities,” the CIDG said of the group.

Dismissal proceedings

Christian Frivaldo, Central Luzon director of PDEA, said they would make sure the erring policemen would be charged.

The arrested suspects, now in the custody of PDEA, would be facing complaints in violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas, on the other hand, ordered that the “stiffest criminal and administrative penalties possible” be leveled against the four police officers.

He also ordered the Directorate for Personnel and Records Management to initiate the summary dismissal proceedings of the four DEU personnel.

“These people are ‘rotten to the core’ and do not deserve to be associated with the rest of the 220,000 PNP members who are serving honorably and with dignity,” Sinas said in a statement.

Sinas likewise ordered an immediate drug testing of all personnel of the Olangapo City police, starting with those belonging to the DEU.

Olongapo Mayor Rolen Paulino Jr. has also earlier recommended a mandatory drug testing among local police “to help address the drug problem” in the community.