PDEA destroys mega-‘shabu’ lab in Pampanga

This underground “shabu” laboratory was busted by the PDEA in Magalang, Pampanga, on Sept. 9, 2016. The seven Chinese suspects used a piggery and an animal feeds factory as a cover. —TONETTE T. OREJAS

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Wednesday destroyed a laboratory suspected to have produced “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) that was discovered in Arayat town in Pampanga province in September last year.

PDEA personnel used acetylene torch to destroy the metal equipment and crushed the glassware set up by Chinese suspects at the foothills of Mt. Arayat in Barangay Lacquios.

The P7.5-million facility was capable of producing 400 kilograms of shabu daily.

Judge Esperanza Rosario-Paglinawan of the Regional Trial Court Branch 44 in this Pampanga capital authorized the destruction, according to Juvenal Azurin, PDEA director in Central Luzon.

Provincial and local leaders, police officers and PDEA officials witnessed the destruction.

Ricardo Quinto, PDEA deputy director general for operations, said the destruction was allowed by the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act to prevent the recycling of equipment.

Police filed charges against Sunday Chua, Jacky Lee Shi and Anthony Cua Reyes for allegedly setting up the facility and manufacturing shabu there.

Only one suspect, Hong Wenzheng, was arrested and held at the provincial jail.

On Sept. 7 last year, PDEA shut down an underground shabu factory in nearby Magalang town.

The two laboratories were 5 kilometers apart but investigators had not found proof that these facilities operated as part of a network. —TONETTE OREJAS