Pubdate: Mon, 03 Jan 2005 Source: Today (Philippines) Copyright: 2005 Today Contact: http://www.today.net.ph/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3458 Author: Manuel Cayon, Today Reporter Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.) SHABU GEAR THROUGH BOC? DAVAO CITY - Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday warned the Bureau of Customs "to shape up" following suspicion that most of the equipment and chemicals found in the raided drugs laboratory passed through the seaport unchecked. "To the Bureau of Customs, you better shape up," Duterte said in his regular Sunday television program two days after antinarcotics agents raided here the first big methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu laboratory in Mindanao. Duterte believes that the equipment "were high tech and could only be brought here through containers that were allowed to pass through Customs unchecked." Supt. Wilkins Villanueva, chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) office here, agreed that the equipment could have passed only through either the airport or the seaport. Duterte said that many of the plastic containers containing the materials to process shabu and the crates that packed the machines still contained markings of their entry. "We could have burned them immediately, but we need the physical evidence," he said. He said he has told President Arroyo that "all [who were involved] have been accounted for and all have been properly ironed out already." Six "oriental-looking" men, probably Chinese, were killed in the reported shootout inside the laboratory located 14 km southwest of downtown Davao. On Saturday, government agents also raided another warehouse in downtown Davao and found stacks of chemicals used to process shabu. The warehouse on Del Pilar Street, Barrio Obrero was believed to be owned by the financier of the shabu laboratory. The alleged financier, identified only as Allan Sy, remained at large, but his wife, Jed Pilapil was taken in on Saturday for questioning. Duterte would not say if they were Chinese but a relative of Pilapil said that they knew Sy was a Hong Kong resident. A PDEA statement has acknowledged the help extended by the Investigation Bureau of the Taiwan Ministry of Justice and the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Taiwan National Police. Duterte also said that he suspects that "if the equipment were not sneaked in from the seaport, they may have been smuggled through the fish-port complex here by the Taiwanese fishing boats." Taiwanese fishermen are the heavy users of the fish-port complex in Toril, 20 km southwest of downtown. Duterte also criticized the handling of big-time shabu manufacturers in Manila and elsewhere, saying that "in Manila, cases were dismissed and you can read in newspapers of high-profile suspects able to escape." "How can cases be dismissed with boatloads of evidence?" he said. "In Davao, I don't like to sound boastful but you cannot hear here of cases dismissed or criminals escaped because there are no prisoners, there are no detainees." "For the nth time, to those who would follow these [foreign operators of the shabu laboratory], if you destroy this country, I will also waste you. You will not get out of Davao alive," he said. "My warning stays, that I will tie you to your machines and burn you with your laboratory." "I cannot fight the drug war by nurturing compassion in my heart," he said. Police authorities are still clueless on the identities of those who were killed in the warehouse shootout. Deputy Director General Ricardo De Leon, Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force(AIDSOTF) chief, identified the owner of the raided warehouse as Jed Sy, wife of Allan Sy who was able to escape arresting authorities. De Leon said police authorities are still determining the identities of the slain foreigners and are still coordinating with the Bureau of Immigration to verify if the slain suspects were really foreigners. - ---