Authorities confiscated 80 more kilos of shabu following the arrest of three foreigners in a hot pursuit operation that started in Zambales, where 500 kilograms of shabu were seized in three big-time drug dealers were killed, and ended in Bataan on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 7.
The Zambales and Bataan operations resulted in the confiscation of more or less 580 kilos of shabu with estimated value of P3.944 billion, the biggest drug haul this year so far, according to Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo T Eleazar, chief of the Philippine National Police.
“This was part of the pursuit operations that were immediately launched after the Zambales operation. There were some personalities who were monitored to be leaving in that area in Candelaria so our personnel and these people are among them,” said Eleazar.
He said the arrest of the suspects happened in Barangay Tipo, Hermosa, Bataan at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, September 7.
A few hours earlier during the onsite press briefing in Zambales, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Director General Wilkins Villanueva said his men, along with members of the PNP Drug Enforcement Group, were pursuing a group of suspects.
He identified those arrested in Bataan as Qing Chang Zhou, 37, who uses the Filipino name Ricky Chou; ; Cai Cai Bin, 49, with Filipino name James/Joseph Chua; and Longcai Chang, 45. All of them are native of Fujian, China and residents of Binondo, Manila.
Confiscated were more or less 80 kilos of shabu, one Toyota Land Cruiser, one Mitsubishi Montero, one Android Phone and one Analog phone.
The Zambales operation that occurred at around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday resulted in the death of Gao Manzhu, 49; Hong Jianshe, 58; Eddie Tan, 60; all from Fujian, China; and, Xu Youha,50, from Quezon City.
Xu, alias Taba, was reportedly the main contact of an international drugs syndicate. He was last monitored to have contacted a member of the international syndicate abroad and this resulted in the buy-bust in Zambales.
“They are known distributors of illegal drugs in Luzon, particularly in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Region 4,” said Eleazar.
Follow-up operations are still being conducted against all the other personalities with links to Xu.