MANILA — Operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) seized more than PHP20-million worth of suspected shabu and arrested four Hong Kong nationals in separate operations in Parañaque and Manila.
PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino identified the suspects as: Lam King Wah, 35, resident of Sea Residences in Pasay; Wong Ka Lok, 38, currently billeted at Red Planet Hotel in Pasay; Lam Wing Bun, 52; and Lang Min Sun, 56.
Wah and Lok were arrested at around 5 a.m. Tuesday in the vicinity of a gasoline station near Aseana Power Station along Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque.
The suspects yielded two kilos of suspected shabu worth PHP13.6 million and 16 liters of chemicals — a mixture of acetone and methanol.
Acetone is a chemical which can be used in the manufacture of illegal drugs.
Aquino said Lam and Wong are believed to be the facilitators or handlers of chemists involved in operating a kitchen-type illegal drug laboratory in Unit 16-G, 16th floor, Tower Oceanaire Residences, Pasay.
Meanwhile, chemists Bun and Sun, were arrested at around 9 a.m. Tuesday in another buy-bust operation in front of Red Planet Hotel in Manila.
Seized from the suspects were one kilo of shabu worth PHP6.8 million.
Bun and Sun are suspected to be linked to the 20 kilos of shabu worth PHP136 million seized on Monday in a buy-bust operation along Service Road, Roxas Boulevard, Manila which resulted in the arrest of another Hong Kong national named Lin Hua Sen a.k.a. Ivan Go Santos, 42, resident of Antipolo City.
“We have noticed that they are bringing in big luggages (which we believed stuffed with shabu) inside this condo unit. Our conclusion is that they are smuggling into our country crystalized shabu. They then repackage it here,” Aquino said.
Aquino said a probe on how these Hong Kong nationals were able to bring in shabu into the country is ongoing.
He said it is likely that they are using a backdoor entry in Mindanao or maybe into seaports.
He said these Hong Kong nationals are suspected members of the 14K or Hong Kong Triad drug syndicate.
“I would like to highlight that intelligence and information that led to these succesful operations came from our international counterparts from the Hongkong Narcotics Bureau and the Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission of China. This is actually a product of our enhanced cooperation and collaboration,” Aquino said. (Christopher Lloyd Caliwan/PNA)
