PDEA seizes more than P27 million ‘shabu’ in Cavite

Bags of shabu (crystal meth) | INQUIRER.net stock photo

LUCENA CITY — About four kilos of “shabu” (crystal meth) worth at least P27.6 million have been confiscated from a woman in Trece Martires City in Cavite province during a “controlled delivery operation,” the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) said Wednesday.

A report from PDEA showed that a shipment from India arrived at the Port of Clark on April 9. After some observation, authorities believed that an illegal substance was concealed in a motorcycle sprocket box. This prompted anti-drug agents to launch a controlled delivery operation in Cavite on Tuesday night.

The package was brought to Trece Martires City by a composite team from the PDEA-Regional Office (PDEA-RO) III with the Pampanga provincial office as the lead unit; PDEA RO IV-A; Drug Interdiction Task Group-Bureau of Custom, Port of Clark; PDEA-Cavite and Trece Martires police.

Around 8 p.m. at the drop-off point, operatives arrested the package’s woman-claimant identified as Lionela dela Cruz, of Barangay Aguado, according to the Calabarzon police’s report.

The PDEA defined on its website controlled delivery operation as “a technique used when a consignment of illicit drugs is detected and allowed to go forward under the control and surveillance of law enforcement officers to secure evidence against the organizers of such illicit drug traffic.”

Investigation regarding the source and supplier of the drugs is ongoing.

PDEA said the suspect will be charged with violation of Section 4 (Importation of Dangerous Drugs) of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

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