PNP hunts for 2 more Chinese, 3 Pinoys over P180M shabu haul in Valenzuela

MANILA, Philippines — Police are hot on the heels of other suspected members of a southeast Asia drug ring, which imported into the Philippines the P180 million worth of “shabu” (methampethamine hydrochloride) confiscated in Valenzuela City on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, anti-narcotics agencies already arrested Filipino-Chinese nationals Sonny Perrine Ang, 67, and Tiuseco Sia Benito, 47, from whom the anti-narcotics agents recovered the drugs as they were leaving the warehouse that was used as a storage facility for imported drilling machines. Police believe the drugs were originally hidden at the base of the drilling machines.

Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP-AIDG) seized around P180 million worth of suspected “shabu” from Ang and Benito at around 8:30 a.m., after the van they were riding in came out of a warehouse on East Service Road in Barangay Lawang Bato, Valenzuela City.

Recovered from them were three bags containing 36 vacuum-sealed aluminum foil packs, each containing a kilo of shabu.

The joint team next raided the warehouse where they found 12 heavy-duty turret drilling machines still packed in crates and wrapped in cellophane while surrounded by 148 opened foil packs.

Authorities believed that the drugs seized from Ang and Benito were hidden in the base of the drilling machines and originally wrapped in the foil packs, according to Glenn Malapad, PDEA spokesperson.

On Wednesday, the PNP-AIDG revealed they were still going after at least five more suspects in the case, including two Chinese nationals and three Filipinos.

In a press briefing at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Chief Insp. Roque Merdegia, the PNP AIDG spokesperson, identified the other suspects as Chinese nationals Sheng Hsun Yang alias “Ah Ti,” Chia Ming Lin alias “Ah Meng,” and Filipinos only identified as “Inday,” “Lucas,” and “Paolo.”

These suspects were actually the ones who were listed as the respondents in the search warrant for the Barangay Lawang Bato warehouse. It just so happened that when the anti-narcotics agencies arrived at the warehouse to serve the warrant on Tuesday morning (after a court issued it at midnight), they caught only Ang and Benito leaving the warehouse.

Merdegia admitted the arrested suspects might have already been making the last run out of the warehouse. By the time the police raided the warehouse after arresting Ang and Benito, all they chanced upon were the machines and already empty foil packs. The PNP-AIDG spokesperson said it was possible much more drugs had been taken out of the warehouse earlier.

Merdegia said they have found that the drilling machines were imported from China, and arrived at the Manila port on Jan. 3. It was brought to the warehouse on Jan. 9. The warehouse was rented by the suspects only last month.

Ang and Benito were both proficient in Filipino, indicating they have spent a long time in the Philippines, Merdegia said. Based on their profiles, police believe they were about to deliver the narcotics to their respective areas of residence — Laguna and Benguet provinces.  SFM