The Muntinlupa City government has called on property owners and managers in Ayala-Alabang Village to investigate vacant and rented properties to ensure these are not being used by criminal elements.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers commended the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) for the discovery and raid of two shabu laboratories inside the Ayala Alabang Village.
The call came on the heels of separate raids by a composite team of law enforcers Friday on two properties in the exclusive village where they seized a total of P149 million worth of shabu, and arrested five suspects, two of them foreigners.
“This raid on a clandestine shabu lab right inside a supposedly serene and safe residential subdivision should be a wake-up call to its residents and community leaders that danger lurks within the confines of their community,” said Muntinlupa City Mayor Ruffy Biazon.
“The safety and security of communities is the mission and duty of our law enforcement units. But it will take a whole-of-city approach to beat illegal drugs,” he added.
The joint anti-narcotics operation was conducted by the PDEA, the Manila International Container Port – Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (MICP-CIIS), the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.
Customs chief intelligence and investigation officer Jeoffrey Tacio said first to be raided was a property at 304 Mabolo Street resulting in the arrest of French national Aurélien Cythere, 41, and Mark Anthony Sayarot, 42, a businessman residing at 23 Cabbage Street, Valley 5, Barangay Ugong, Pasig City.
He said the team discovered and seized P136 million worth of shabu in the property being used as clandestine laboratory by the drug syndicate.
The agents also confiscated various Controlled Precursors and Essential Chemicals (CPECs) and laboratory equipment, several ID cards, three mobile phones, and assorted financial documents.
A second raid conducted on 523 Madrigal Avenue in the same posh subdivision village yielded P13.6 million worth shabu and the arrest of three individuals namely, Canadian Ariana Golesorkhi, 33; Audemar Ponsica, 31; driver; and Welmar Laban, 37, helper.
The Customs and PDEA officials are continuously coordinating and sharing information after the successful anti-drug operation.
The two agencies, according to Customs Deputy Commissioner Juvymax Uy, recently formed a join operation against illicit drugs and suspected individuals who were reported to have been into smuggling of shabu and cocaine to Australia on June 16, 2022.
“I consider this a successful first step in bringing these perpetrators to justice and for them to face the full extent of the
law. We’ve been after these groups for as long as I can remember. Even before I joined BoC, the agency has been after these smugglers of illegal drugs,” Uy said
PDEA Assistant Secretary and officer-in-charge Gregorio Pimentel said the operation stemmed from intelligence information received saying there were foreign nationals allegedly being involved of smuggling shabu and cocaine to Australia.
“These suspects are linked to Mexican, Australian and Canadian drug trafficking groups. We are currently investigating these links and several other drug personalities,” he added.
“The relentless campaign by our law enforcement authorities against these illegal drugs prove that the BBM administration is dead serious in continuing the crusade to free our country from the menace of this evil that destroys our families and society,” Barbers, chairperson of the House committee on dangerous drugs, said.
In a statement, Barbers congratulated Pimentel for a “job well done.”
The Mindanao legislator also thanked Pimentel for immediately apprehending the suspects as he urged for more follow up operations to find out how the suspects entered the country.
“Shabu cannot be manufactured in large-scale quantities without the needed precursors that can only be imported,” Barbers said.
“Thus, we have to look at the trail by which these precursors managed to evade our border control,” he added.