Posh Parañaque condo yields P170M drugs

Authorities on Wednesday swooped down on a condominium inside an exclusive gated community in Parañaque City and seized 27.5 kilograms of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” and 20 kilos of ephedrine with a street value of about P170 million.

The raid on Unit 48 of Sentosia Condominium in Barangay Tambo was the third major bust carried out by the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) since last month.

“This successful operation is a big blow to the activities of illegal drugs syndicate in Metro Manila and nearby provinces,” Chief Insp. Roque Merdegia, AIDSOTF spokesperson, told the Inquirer.

He said a joint team from AIDSOTF and PDEA swooped down on the three-story residential building at 4:30 a.m. armed with a search warrant issued by Judge Fernando Sagun Jr. of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 78.

The unit was being rented by Marvin Tan also known as Tiu, with his companions identified as Frederick Tan, Johnson Chua, Jacky Sia Huang, Richard Catungal, Fernando Dilima and James Garcia. No one was around during the raid.

Merdegia said the raiding team found two bags filled with 20 plastic packs of shabu each and another 15 packs of shabu in a closet inside the room on the third floor of the condominium. Each pack contained 500 grams of shabu, he added.

Antinarcotics agents also recovered a sack filled with 20 kilos of ephedrine from the same room.

Merdegia said initial investigation showed that the room was being used by a Chinese drug syndicate to store close to P400 million of illegal drugs. In fact, the 248 kilos of ephedrine seized by policemen from a van in Parañaque City on Jan. 24 came from the same condominium.