Fired narc cops’ quarters yield ‘tawas’

THE DISCOVERY of around 3 kilos of alum (tawas) in the locker of one of the 35 relieved Quezon City antinarcotics policemen appears to confirm reports that some of them were involved in the recycling of drugs.

Senior Supt. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director, told reporters on Monday that the bags of tawas were found during a cleanup of the District Anti-Illegal Drugs (DAID) barracks at Camp Karingal on Friday.

This was after 35 DAID policemen were transferred to the District Headquarters Support Unit, also at Camp Karingal, pending the results of an investigation into the possible involvement in illegal drugs of DAID official Senior Insp. Ramon Castillo who was shot dead in a buy-bust operation conducted by other policemen last week.

Castillo, who reportedly resisted arrest, had been suspected of recycling drugs seized in legitimate antinarcotics operations.

Lab test confirmation

Supt. Nestor Abalos of the District Personnel and Human Resource Development Division which was in charge of the cleanup, said he initially mistook the tawas for “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride). A test conducted by the Crime Laboratory, however, verified that the bags contained alum, Eleazar reported.

Asked for a possible explanation on why a DAID operative  could be keeping alum in his locker, Eleazar refused to speculate, saying the matter was still under investigation. He also did not identify the owner of the locker.

Authorities, however, said that due to the quantity, they were inclined to believe that the tawas was used by so-called “ninja cops” (policemen involved in drug recycling) in their illegal operations.

Illegal substitution

They added that the policemen were probably substituting the alum for the drugs recovered in their operations.

Eleazar, meanwhile, said that following the discovery, they would be stricter in the handling of seized evidence.

“We will remind all our operatives that all evidence, particularly illegal drugs, must be submitted to the Crime Laboratory [immediately]. We will conduct surprise inspections,” he added.