P1B drug bust in Subic

MANILA, Philippines—Antinarcotics operatives of the Philippine National Police on Sunday seized over 200 kilos of illegal drugs worth some P1 billion that had been smuggled into the country.

Six persons were arrested when authorities swooped down on a house in Sta. Monica Subdivision in Subic, Zambales, at 1:30 p.m., said Chief Insp. Roque Merdegia, PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (Aidsotf) spokesman.

Merdegia said the raid was carried out with help from the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

“This is our biggest confiscation of illegal drugs this year. It was really a multiagency effort,” he said in a phone interview.

“The house had been converted into a warehouse, where the syndicate kept the illegal drugs that had been smuggled into the country,” he said. “The shabu was intended for distribution in Metro Manila.”

Senior Supt. Bartolome Tobias, Aidsotf chief, said his men monitored the drug syndicate for five months with help from BOC intelligence chief Fernandino Tuazon and Risk Management Office assistant chief Jimmy Guban.

Merdegia said the six persons were loading drugs into a vehicle parked outside the house. “They were about to leave, actually. Luckily, we were able to catch them,” he said.

He said the drug warehouse was maintained by a syndicate headed by a Chinese national.—Marlon Ramos