Photo courtesy of PDEA Public Information Office
Acting on a tip from their Chinese counterparts, agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) raided an illegal drug laboratory in Batangas province on Thursday and arrested four Chinese nationals and four Filipinos allegedly responsible for manufacturing “shabu” (crystal meth).
The raid came two days after President Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in China’s Hainan province and pledged cooperation in the fight against illegal drugs.
PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino said the discovery of the laboratory on a poultry farm at Barangay Santo Niño in Ibaan town, was the result of collaboration between the Philippines and the Chinese intelligence agencies.
Chinese financier
The shabu laboratory was reportedly financed by a Chinese man who was based in Hong Kong.
Aquino, in a statement, cited information shared last year by the Chinese Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission about Chinese chemists “flying in and out of the country from September to October 2017.”
Lipa, Tagaytay raids
Backed by troops from the Philippine Air Force and officers from the Batangas provincial police, PDEA agents raided the poultry farm in Ibaan at 6 a.m. on Thursday.
Subsequent operations were conducted in Lipa City, Batangas, and Tagaytay City, Cavite province.
Aquino said Xie Jiansheng, a Chinese national believed to be the group’s “handler,” returned from China on Feb. 24 and traveled to La Union province and later stayed in Tagaytay City.
On March 6, three Chinese chemists arrived in the country from Jinjiang, Fujian province in China, and also stayed in Tagaytay.
Chemists
During the Ibaan operation, authorities arrested Chinese nationals Tian Baoquan and Guo Zixing, who were identified as chemists.
Also arrested were electrician Eduardo Lorenzo, 59; driver Rosaleo Cesar, 49, and Amancio Gallarde, 40—all Filipinos.
In Lipa City, authorities arrested Chinese chemist Hong Dy and his Filipino driver, Nestor Baguio.
Xie, the alleged handler of the group, was arrested at Barangay Francisco in Tagaytay City. Recovered from him were 500 grams of shabu worth P2.5 million.
25 kg of shabu a day
“The shabu laboratory has the capacity to produce 25 kilos or P125 million worth of shabu in one day,” Aquino said.
The authorities found on the Ibaan farm large amounts of “controlled precursors and essential chemicals” placed in large plastic drums and used in manufacturing shabu and ecstasy.
The PDEA said the Chinese chemists had links to drug smugglers in the Golden Triangle, Southeast Asia’s drug-producing region on the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.