Pubdate: Tue, 04 Jan 2005
Source: Philippine Star (Philippines)
Copyright: PhilSTAR Daily Inc. 2005
Contact:  http://www.philstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/622
Author: Edith Regalado
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

10 CHINESE, 3 PINOYS ARRESTED

DAVAO CITY - Authorities arrested 10 Chinese and three Filipinos in 
follow-up anti-drug operations, a day after six suspected drug dealers were 
killed in an alleged shootout with anti-narcotics agents here on New Year's 
Eve.

Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez said the 13 suspects were 
arrested by anti-narcotics agents searching for Allan Sy, the suspected 
financier and operator of the shabu laboratory raided by lawmen in Barangay 
Dumoy here.

The raid led to the seizure of 76.8 kilos of high-grade shabu with a street 
value of over P152 million.

Fernandez said those arrested included Sy's parents, Sy Son Lu, 64, and Lim 
King Shu, 55, who were taken in along with the other suspects from a row of 
apartments owned by Sy along N. Torres street in Barrio Obrero.

Raiding lawmen confiscated equipment and chemicals from the suspects, which 
were similar to those seized in the shabu laboratory in the city raided 
last Friday.

Sy's parents were on vacation here and scheduled to go back to China later 
this month.

Immigration and police authorities also took into custody Carlos Sy, Cai 
Ling Na, Tony Lu, Sun Fah Sy, Guo Ya Shu, Zhen Wen Tun, Lu Ji Xiao and 
Allan Lim Dee.

Southern Mindanao alien control officer Benjamin Lao said the suspects were 
arrested because of improper travel documents.

"We apprehended them based on the mission order (of the BI)," Lao said. "We 
are still investigating their status. Some of them do not have proper 
documents as per initial investigation."

The names of the three Filipinos arrested with the 10 Chinese were 
temporarily withheld.

Authorities earlier arrested Sy's wife, Jed Pilapil-Sy, under whose name 
the warehouse used as shabu laboratory was bought last Oct. 21.

Officials said the Sy couple have put up several corporations, including a 
fruit juice company, for use as fronts for their drug-manufacturing trade.

Also at large is the younger brother of Jed, known only as a certain Jong, 
who worked as driver-bodyguard for Allan Sy and the six slain suspects.

Fernandez, on the other hand, told a news conference at the Philippine 
National Police (PNP) headquarters in Quezon City that the Bureau of 
Immigration has started checking the travel records of the arrested Chinese 
nationals.

He added the other three arrested suspects presented documents indicating 
they are Filipinos.

Fernandez did not reveal the names of the three.

"We will know by tomorrow (today) if they are illegal aliens and if they 
are properly documented, we will check the violations they committed in the 
conditions of their stay," he said.

Fernandez added they are also checking the identity of the six slain 
suspects, who are all believed to be Chinese nationals.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte said the bodies of the slain six 
"Oriental-looking" suspects were still unclaimed as of yesterday.

"If no one will claim them, then we will give them a pauper's burial," 
Duterte said.

He added the P152 million worth of shabu seized in the New Year's Eve raid 
will be disposed of in the next few days while the seized drug laboratory 
equipment will be kept for study.

"We need to dig further what really happened and how these equipment were 
brought into the area," he said. 'Vigilance Needed' As this developed, 
lawmakers called on the PNP to be more vigilant on warehouses in local 
communities used as drug laboratories.

Davao City Rep. Vincent Garcia and Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Antonio Cerilles 
said increased vigilance on the part of the police should discourage the 
practice of converting warehouses into drug laboratories.

The two lawmakers said law enforcers should enlist the help and support of 
local government officials which effort was shown in Duterte's coordinated 
action in the raid on the suspected drug laboratory in the city last Friday.

"Our LGUs would not want the drug menace to thrive in their communities so 
they will do everything to help our law enforcers through 
information-gathering and sharing," he said.

"On the part of our law enforcers, they should remain watchful over 
warehouses in communities to prevent them from being used as shabu 
laboratories," Garcia said.

For his part, Cerilles pointed out the common denominator in anti-drug 
raids in other parts of the country is the use of warehouses being 
converted into a drug laboratory.

"Our law enforcers should make follow through surveillance of these 
warehouses even if initial information is that they are being used for 
legitimate business operations. We cannot afford to be complacent in the 
fight against drugs," Cerilles said.

The Davao drug laboratory was the 11th big one found in 2004 in an 
aggressive nationwide anti-drug campaign by the government. Since 1997, the 
government has destroyed at least 32 shabu laboratories being operated by 
foreign nationals in the country.

In 2003, police destroyed at least 11 drug laboratories and nine warehouses 
and seized P13 billion worth of shabu and ingredients.

Authorities believe most of the drugs, now more popular in the country than 
cocaine and heroin, are sold locally.

Officials however conceded the large volume of drugs being manufactured 
here suggest some are sold abroad.

China has been tagged as the main source of shabu chemical ingredients, 
some of which are smuggled into the Philippines and often manufactured here 
by Chinese citizens, officials said.

Officials likewise noted the successive raids in the past months have 
resulted in the scarcity of shabu supply in the market.
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