NBI raids clandestine ‘shabu’ lab in Cavite

Antinarcotics agents busted another clandestine “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) laboratory in a raid on a house in Imus town in Cavite early Monday, and arrested the woman owner.

The suspect, Wilma Sarno, 45, of Barangay Anabu-E, was the subject of the search warrant issued by Judge Marino dela Cruz of Regional Trial Court Branch 22 in Manila, according to an agent of the Counter Intelligence Division (CID) of the National Bureau of Investigation, which conducted the raid.

The agent requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak to journalists.

Members of the CID team seized weighing scales, tooters and other drug paraphernalia, and a still undetermined value of chemicals used in making shabu from Sarno’s home.

The items were brought to the bureau’s forensic laboratory for inventory.

It was the first raid conducted by the CID in Cavite, although its district office, which is based in Tagaytay City, had its own series of operations against illegal drugs, particularly in Imus and Dasmariñas City, last year.

The NBI source said drug trafficking had been rampant in Barangay Anabu, citing intelligence reports reaching the agency’s office, local police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. Maricar Cinco, Inquirer Southern Luzon