By Hilda Austria
LABRADOR, Pangasinan – Joint forces of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) accomplished another big-time shabu haul in this province on Friday night.
A total of 895 kilograms of shabu worth nearly PHP6.1 billion were found at a residential house in Barangay Laois here.
PDEA chief Isagani Nerez said it was a follow-up operation with a search warrant related to the arrest of a Chinese national and his Filipino driver in a buy-bust the day before in Barangay Polong, Bugallon, where they seized 125 kilograms of shabu packed in plastic tea bags worth PHP850 million.
The two-day haul reached at least a ton worth PHP6.9 billion.
“We were surprised that the illegal drugs were in a vehicle ready for transport,” Nerez told the media.
He said the operation happened after a two-month surveillance.
A joint investigation team, which will include the Ilocos Police Regional Office and Pangasinan Police Provincial Office, will try to find out the sources of the illegal drugs and why they chose Pangasinan.
“The task of the joint investigation team of PNP and PDEA is to find out the connection. We will form a joint investigation team to trace where it came from and who are their local contacts here,” Nerez said.
“Why here in Pangasinan? That’s what we want to know.”
Previous discovery of floating shabu in western Pangasinan and Zambales coasts had different packaging, Nerez noted.
They also believe that the largest target market would always be Metro Manila. (PNA)
