Authorities killed four big-time drug traffickers, including the main contact of an international drug syndicate in the country, and seized some P3.4 billion worth of shabu in a buy-bust in Zambales, the biggest drug haul this year so far.

Gen. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said he ordered the deployment of helicopters and speedboats of the Maritime Group to run after other suspects who were believed to have gotten away a few hours after the buy-bust in a coastal area in Candelaria ton of Zambales at around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 7.

He identified those killed as Gao Manzhu, 49; Hong Jianshe, 58; Eddie Tan, 60; all from Fujian, China; and, Xu Youha,50, from Quezon City. They died after they tried to shoot it out with anti-narcotics operatives in a bid to escape.

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.

Seized from them were more or less 500 kilograms of shabu, four firearms, a Sports Utility Vehicle, three cellular phones, and two Chinese passports.

Eleazar said operation was a result of the cooperation and information-sharing of the PNP, the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP), the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), the Bureau of Customs and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) led by Director General Wilkins Villanueva, as the lead agency.

The confiscated shabu was the biggest drug haul for this year so far. Last year, more than 800 kilos of shabu were also seized in Bulacan and DG Villanueva said the Zambales operation was part of the continuous follow-up operation against those involved in Bulacan.

Villanueva said the operation stemmed from a long surveillance after they were able to track down the movement of Xu Youha.

On Tuesday, government anti-narcotics operatives was able to negotiate for the purchase of a kilo of shabu from the group of Xu which resulted in the operation that eventually led to his death and of his three other companions.

Villanueva said the illegal drugs were smuggled into the country through the international waters that were later picked up by smaller vessels. They were then transported near the coastal waters to be picked by the local illegal drugs distributor.

“Meron pa tayong pursuit na ginagawa from this operation. Hindi dito nagtatapos ang aming maigting na kampanya laban sa iligal na droga dahil meron pa tayong hinahabol na mga sindikato (We are still conducting pursuit operations. This is not the end of our aggressive campaign against illegal drugs, we still have some target groups),” said Villanueva.

“This operation was a result of the whole-of-government approach in our campaign against illegal drugs. Our coordination and cooperation with other government agencies, particularly with the PDEA, is now stronger than before so we are confident that this will be our strong point in our successful campaign to put an end to the threats of illegal drugs in the country,” said Eleazar, for his part.