Cops find 20-kg ‘shabu’ but lose Chinese dealer

Anti-narcotics agents seized 20 kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) worth around P100 million following an operation in Novaliches, Quezon City, on Wednesday night.

Mikko Tiu Tan, a Chinese national and suspected drug ring member, managed to escape undercover policemen of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF).

The suspect apparently sensed that he was the subject of an entrapment operation, deciding not to meet the buyers at the first meeting place.

“[Tan] realized that he might be meeting up with a confidential agent. He decided to abandon his car but left behind the contraband,” said Chief Insp. Roque Merdegia, AIDSOTF spokesman.

Initially, policemen planned the buy-bust to trap Tan after one of their operatives set up a deal to purchase shabu from a certain Mikko.

The first meeting place was in Fairview, Quezon City, but the target did not show up for the transaction.

Tan drove toward Cresta Verda Subdivision, Barangay (village) Sta. Monica in Novaliches, after which he got out of his Toyota Avanza with license plate WOL 771.

Unknown to him, the undercover policemen had tailed him and saw him walk to a dimly lit portion by the road side.

“Policemen secured the vehicle and chased the suspect but Tan disappeared. He was possibly fetched by someone waiting there,” Merdegia said.

Anti-narcotics operatives inspected the vehicle, which contained a box with 20 kilos of shabu worth P100 million.

A tipster had warned them about Tan’s illegal drugs activities, prompting them to conduct surveillance activities against the suspect.

Merdegia said Tan could be an old-timer in the narcotics trade although his name is relatively new to them.

“He cannot be a new player because a drug syndicate won’t entrust him with such a new stash if he was a new player. He could be an old player using a new name,” the police official said.

He added that Tan may be possibly connected to other drug syndicates previously busted by  AIDSOTF or the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

The suspect is now the subject of a manhunt operation as Merdegia said the recovered shabu was similar to recovered substances smuggled from China.