By Aaron Recuenco
Police seized chemical ingredients that are estimated to produce more than P2 billion worth of shabu in three separate operations in Metro Manila on Wednesday.
Director Guillermo Eleazar, director of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), said the bulk of the seized items were found inside a van that was parked at the Ortigas business district in Pasig City at around 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Seized inside the van were 27 sacks of suspected Ephedrine, four plastic containers of grayish solid substance, 20 plastic containers of black powder, two plastic containers containing white watery substance, seven rounded glass flask, two elongated glass flasks, four red plastic containers with white crystalline and watery substance, 26 bottles of acetone, four stainless steel strainers, a digital weighing scale, a money counting machine, four improvised steel burner stand, a pink plastic basin and a stainless spatula.
“Upon calculation, these could produce around 325 kilos of shabu with street value of P2.2 billion,” said Eleazar.
The chemical ingredients, according to Eleazar, were discovered after two separate operations that led to the arrest of two people, including a South Korean identified as Kim Jong Hee.
He said that at around 5 a.m. on Wednesday, anti-narcotics agents of the Northern Police District have arrested a certain Marvin Yu in a drug-bust in Bagong Barrio, Caloocan City.
During the operation, the cops seized 250 grams of shabu.
Yu reportedly provided information that led to another buy-bust in San Juan City at around 6:30 p.m. on the same day where Kim Jong Hee was collared.
“He (Korean) is believed to be a chemist,” said Eleazar.
But prior to the arrest of Kim, Eleazar said there was already a surveillance being conducted as to where Yu has been getting the supply of drugs that he had been selling.
The Korean has been tailed before the transaction and it was then that the cops noticed that the former was seen near a van (ZRF-504) that was parked along Garnett Road in Barangay San Antonio in Ortigas Center.
“After the arrest of the suspect, a follow up operation again was conducted in the parked vehicle which resulted in the recovery from the van,” said Eleazar.
Drug charges will be filed against the two arrested suspects, according to Eleazar.