FOUR Chinese nationals, allegedly members of a group operating out of the notorious Golden Triangle drug area, and four Filipinos were arrested by government anti-narcotics agents on Thursday following raids on two clandestine shabu laboratories in separate areas in Batangas province and Tagaytay City in Cavite.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director Aaron Aquino identified the four Chinese men as Tian Baoquan, Guo Zixing, Hong Dy, and Xie Jiansheng.
Xie was tagged as the organizer of the drug operation and the handler of Tian, Guo and Hong, who were identified as chemists.
Also arrested were Filipinos Eduardo Lorenzo, 59, an electrician; drivers Rosalio Cesar, 49, and Nestor Baguio; and Amancio Gallarde, 40, an errand boy.
Aquino said Tian and Gua were nabbed along with Lorenzo, Cesar, and Gallarde inside the Hingoso Farm in Barangay Sto. Nino, Ibaan, Batangas at about 6 a.m. Thursday.
At another drug lab in Lipa City, PDEA agents arrested Hong and Baguio. An hour after the Ibaan raid, authorities descended on a house in Merry Homes, Barangay Francisco, Tagaytay to apprehend Xie, who yielded 500 grams of shabu worth P2.5 million.
The shabu laboratory in Ibaan, Aquino said, “has the capacity to produce 25 kilos or P125 million worth of shabu in one day.”
That lab yielded large amounts of controlled precursors and essential chemicals used in the manufacture of shabu, such as phenyls, propane, methylamine, acetic acid, sodium hydroxide, sodium acetate, potassium iodate, sodium sulfate, tartaric acid, boric acid, methanol, ethanol, ammonium hydroxide, and safrole, a chemical used in the production of the party drug Ecstasy.
Chinese intelligence reports indicated that the shabu and ecstasy-producing laboratories were organized by a Hong Kong-based drug kingpin, the PDEA chief added.
The discovery of the laboratories followed tips to PDEA from China’s Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission and the Narcotics Control Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security, Aquino said.
“A tip-off from ONNCC was first relayed to PDEA International Cooperation and Foreign Affairs Service (ICFAS) that Chinese chemists were flying in and out of the country from September to October 2017,” he said.
“On behalf of the PDEA and the Philippine government, I would like to express our gratitude to our Chinese counterparts for their intelligence support and cooperation as we vowed to protect our nations from the threat of illegal drugs,” Aquino added.
The cooperation and collaboration between Chinese and Philippine drug enforcement authorities was revitalized after the state visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to China from Oct. 16 to 21, 2016, he noted.
During the said visit, PDEA and ONNCC signed their Protocol on Cooperation on intelligence sharing and joint anti-drug operations, Aquino added.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives’ committee on dangerous drugs approved the creation of a technical working group to consolidate four bills supporting the national government’s efforts to combat and eradicate illegal drugs.
The committee, chaired by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, is expected to come up with a consolidated version of House Bill 4659, HB 4671, HB 4728 and HB 6984, authored by Reps. Mariano Michael Velarde Jr. of Buhay Party-list, Jose Enrique Garcia III of Bataan, Alfredo Garbin of Ako-Bicol Party-list and Rep. Joseph Bernos of Abra, respectively.
HB 4671 proposes to expedite the disposition of judicial cases involving violations of Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
HB 6984 requires the “automatic” treatment and rehabilitation of arrested or individuals who confess to illegal use of drugs immediately after arrest.
HB 4659 expands the coverage of authorized drug testing to include the use of other dangerous drugs such as “party drugs” that present tests cannot detect, while HB 4728 provides for speedy destruction of confiscated dangerous drugs as well as instruments and paraphernalia.
Aquino said that after being tipped off, the PDEA and Chinese anti-drug ministries held a bilateral intelligence and investigation meeting to iron out the details of their joint operation.
Based on extensive monitoring on the movements of the Chinese triad members, one of the Chinese nationals arrived in Cebu City from Guanzhou, China last Feb. 24.
“He took a ship to Manila where he reportedly visited a suspected shabu laboratory in La Union and stayed temporarily in Tagaytay City,” the PDEA chief said.
The three Chinese chemists arrived in Manila from Jinjiang in China’s Fujian province on March 6, were fetched by their compatriot Xie from Guanzhou, and proceeded to Tagaytay, where Xie later stayed.
The Golden Triangle is known as the world’s foremost drug-producing region, operating in the tri-country boundaries of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar.