‘Chinese drug dealers now working harder to have big New Year cash’

AUTHORITIES are monitoring known members of international drug syndicates who are working double time to sell their stock so they can spend the Chinese New Year in China, according to a ranking police official.

The Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG) observed that drug dealers had been working hard in recent weeks to raise money for the celebration next month, said the AIDG spokesperson, Chief Insp. Roque Merdegia.

“The drug lords know that cash is plenty with elections just months away. They would sell almost all their stock of illegal drugs and spend the money they earned in China during the Chinese New Year. Then they will come back here,” Merdegia said.

‘Shabu’ price per kilo, per sachet

The syndicates, he said, were aware that drug users still have extra cash left even after the Christmas holidays.

If bought directly from smugglers, methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” is being sold nowadays at P750,000 a kilo, but distributors can rake in up to P5 million if the drug goes out on the streets in small packets priced at P50 to P100 each, according to the AIDG.

The group is also on the alert against syndicates involved in “narco-politics” as the campaign heats up leading to the May 9 national elections, Merdegia said.

In a joint operation, the AIDG and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency arrested two men carrying 36 kilos of shabu worth P189 million before they could board a getaway vehicle in Lawang Bato, Valenzuela City, on Tuesday last week.

Wanted Chinese, Pinoys

Merdegia said they are currently tracking down the Chinese and Filipino partners of the arrested suspects—Sonny Ang, 67, and Benito Tiuseco, 47.

The wanted Chinese were identified as Yan Sheng Hsun (alias Ah Ti) and Lin Chia Ming (alias Ah Meng), while the Filipinos were known only by their aliases Inday, Lucas and Paulo.

They had been linked to the operations of the China-Southeast Asia regional drug network.

The Mitsubishi Montero which Ang and Tiuseco were using when they were arrested was found to have stickers bearing the logos of the Office of the President and the Philippine National Police Academy, but Merdegia said the stickers’ authenticity was still being verified.