Pubdate: Mon, 10 Jan 2005
Source: Daily Tribune, The (Philippines)
Copyright: 2005 The Tribune Publishing Co., Inc.
Contact:  http://www.tribune.net.ph/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2973
Author: PNA
Cited: Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency http://www.pdea.gov.ph
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

PDEA SUSPECTS PROMINENT FAMILIES LINKED
TO DRUG LORD

DAVAO CITY - The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) here said 30 
local residents, including prominent Davaenos, may have dealings with 
suspected local "drug lord," Allan Sy.

"We have their photos and their car numbers," PDEA chief Supt. Wilkins 
Villanueva told media, referring to the said families dealing with Sy, 
adding the police held a list of about 30 visitors to Sy's factories.

"We have photos, the names and addresses of these people who have at one 
time visited Sy in his shabu lairs," he added.

Villanueva said the photos were taken by anti-narcotics agents monitoring 
activities of shabu factories raided by police in the past five days.

He said video and still photo data from surveillance operations captured 
the identities and car plates of the visitors whose residence were traced 
to high-end housing subdivisions here.

Villanueva said the surveillance operations were started in October after 
local authorities received tips about a large shabu factory in Barrio Obrero.

Surveillance by anti-narcotics agents showed members of prominent Davao 
City families had at one time or another dropped by the Barrio Obrero and 
Barrio Bunawan shabu factories of Sy, a wanted big-time drug pusher and 
manufacturer, Villanueva said.

The raids on the Barrio Obrero and Bunawan drug factories followed the 
discovery of Sy's main shabu factory in Barrio Dumoy, where operatives 
killed six Taiwanese in a shootout on New Year's eve.

A huge amount of what was determined as high-grade shabu estimated to be 
worth P152 million was also found in the factory, which has been registered 
as a juice factory by Sy.

He said some of those in the PDEA files may have legitimate business 
dealings with Sy.

Sy, a Filipino of Chinese descent who runs several businesses here, was 
established as owner of warehouses and factories in Dumoy, Obrero and 
Bunawan, where police seized shabu-making equipment and chemicals.

Villanueva said all visitors monitored visiting Sy would be considered as 
part of the shabu network of the drug lord, who at present is the subject 
of a police manhunt, until they prove themselves to be otherwise.

"We are inviting those who have dealings with Sy to come to us to explain 
if their visits were for legitimate business," Villanueva said. "We ask 
these people to come to us and explain their presence at the Sy drug 
factory, he added.

Earlier on Saturday, another warehouse in Barrio Obrero and Bunawan that 
netted chemicals and shabu-making equipment found in the Dumoy shabu 
warehouse. The PDEA said all the equipment assembled in a centralized 
manufacturing operation could produce shabu worth P2.2 billion a month.

The Dumoy factory, owned by Sy's wife, Jed, yielded 76 kilos of shabu worth 
an estimated P150 million.
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