Shabu Seized

WHAT IT TOOK | 5 months' surveillance, teamwork behind P2-B shabu haul in Subic

By: Philippines News Agency
August 12, 2013 8:34 PM

A police officer points to balikbayan boxes in a van containing the shabu seized in Subic on Sunday. KRISKEN JONES, INTERAKSYON.COM

InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA - Teamwork among several agencies and five months of painstaking joint surveillance, along with the political will to rid a vital economic zone of illegal drugs: these were behind the mind-boggling haul of 400 kilos of shabu seized by authorities Sunday, with an estimated worth of P2 billion.
The shabu was of high grade, according to authorities who conducted an inventory Monday.
The Philippine National Police-Anti Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (PNP-AIDSOTF) and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested six people, led by a Filipino-Chinese man, caught loading them in a parked van in Subic, Zambales.
Task force commander Senior Supt. Bartolome Tobias led the raid at Block 10 Lot 5 and 7 in Sta. Monica Subdivision on Sunday afternoon.
Tobias identified the suspects as Joselito Esqueta, resident of Pasay City; Coronel Disierto 33, also from of Pasay City; Emmanuel Erwin Tobias, from Pasay and Dennis Domingo form Antipolo City .
The police confiscated two balikbayan boxes and 22 travelling bags containing the shabu ---with a total weight of more or less 400 kgs. They also seized a white Nizzan urban with plate number XBX507.
Tobias said that during the police operation, group leader Albert Chin of Mendez, Cavite tried to elude arrest but was pursued and arrested by elements of Special Operation Unit 3 along Florida Blanca exit in Pampanga.
Authorities also arrested his driver-body guard, Romeo Manalo of Naic, Cavite.
They also confiscated a color black Toyota Innova and one kg of suspected shabu.
Tobias said the operation was a collaboration by the AIDSOTF former task commander Napoleon Taas, PNP Firearms and Explosives Office head Chief Superintendent Raul Petrasanta, Senior Superintendent Eduardo Acierto, Don Montenegro of the PNP Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and  the Bureau of Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service.
The raid, which also sought to stop the entry of drugs via SBMA, came after five months of joint surveillance during which law enforcers managed to embed an undercover agent inside the group.
PNP Chief Director General Alan Purisima lauded the police operations. “This is a testament to [the willingness to] serve our country and our people. The most important aspect of this operation is that we were able to prevent the distribution of these illegal drugs to the streets of Metro Manila and nearby areas and eventually save many people from harm, people that include our children, relatives and friends.”