BAGUIO CITY – Authorities seized 575 kilos of suspected shabu valued at P4 billion in a house in Purok 4, Barangay Irisan here on Wednesday morning, March 29.

Joint personnel of the Police Regional Office-Cordillera and Baguio City Drug Enforcement Units, armed with a search warrant issued by Executive Judge Rufus Gayo Malecdan Jr. of the Regional Trial Court here, raided the house at 8 a.m.

An occupant of the house, a Chinese national, Ming Hui, alias "Tan," was apprehended.

A CHINESE was arrested and 575 kilos of suspected shabu valued at P4 billion was seized by authorities in a house in Baguio City on Wednesday, March 29. (JJ Landingin)

Police found more than 500 sealed tea bags with Chinese markings containing one kilo of shabu each.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Benhur Abalos and PDEA Director-General Virgilio Lazo witnessed the operation.

"This is more or less 575 kilos of illegal drugs with a value of P4 billion, you may be wondering why the police of the National Capital Region are here, because this is a continuing operation, so this accomplishment is a joint effort of our government's war on drugs campaign," said Abalos.

INTERIOR and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos and other officials look at packs of suspected shabu worth P575 million discovered in a house in Baguio City on Wednesday, March 29. (Zaldy Comanda)

Abalos said the house was used as a warehouse to fast-track distribution to various parts of the country.

"Don't be surprised, because it is stored here, it is no longer a distribution only for Cordillera or for Baguio City. It can be used only to be stored here and can be spread to different places, so when this happens the whole country is affected here," he added.

Abalos said the government is focused, particularly the police, in the war on drugs. He called on the community and barangay officials to cooperate in the fight against illegal drugs.

According to Abalos, they strongly believe that this is possibly part of the 900 kilos recently discovered in Metro Manila because the markings on them are the same.

Police had been monitoring the house for more than three months for illegal drug activities.

Mayor Benjamin Magalong here thanked the police for immediately disposing of the illegal drugs. "I would like to thank our PNP, PDEA,
NBI, because of their coordination, they immediately tracked down this large storage in our city.”

Charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 are being readied against the suspect who said he is only the caretaker of the house.

The operating teams were led by Lt. Col. Dinky Del-ong, chief of the PRO-Cordillera RDEU.

This was the largest quantity of shabu seized in this city so far.