Drug gang ‘hurting’ as Subic execs find 30kg more shabu
At least 30 kilograms more of shabu were recovered by agents of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group and Task Force Subic on Subic Bay on Saturday, raising to 744.66 kg the total haul of illegal drugs recovered at the Subic Bay Freeport since May 27.
Divers of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority found the latest contraband in three boxes floating in waters across the Riviera Pier, the same area where a Taiwanese vessel suspected to be carrying the cargo docked, according to Supt. Rolando Magno, chief of the Task Force Subic, the anti-smuggling arm of the SBMA.
These were seen at 8:30 a.m., Magno told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.
The boxes were tied with ropes. A box contained five packs of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) weighing 2 kg each, he said.
PASG has turned over the latest seizure to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
“It looked like the modus operandi is now to anchor the boxes on the shore and have these retrieved by fishing vessels,” said PASG chief Antonio Villar Jr.
“It was floating there. Our suspicion is there are more to be found. The smugglers seemed desperate to the point of dumping the illegal drugs instead of taking it out of the freeport,” said Villar.
Two boxes were also found floating near the Taiwanese vessel on May 28, following the seizure of about 90 kg of shabu in the car of the suspect, Anthony “Anton” Ang, a day before that.
The bulk of the shipment, about 600 kg, was found loaded in a rented van at the warehouse of Ang’s company, the Hua Long International Inc. inside the freeport.
Villar said there could be more shabu stored somewhere in Subic “and the syndicate is using banca (outrigger boats) to get it out.”
He said the latest find is worth about P200 million, but its value would triple “once it hits the streets.”
“This shabu is high-grade… the best we’ve seen. Ang and his bosses will kill and die for this,” he said.
Ang has yet to be arrested. He and his family left their house in West Bajac Bajac in Olongapo City after the discovery and seizure of the illegal drugs last week. (See sidebar: Where is Anton Ang?)
Hua Long is registered at the SBMA as an importer of cigarettes and liquor from China, transshipping these to other Asian countries, corporate records showed. It has been doing business at the freeport in the last four years.
PASG, SBMA and PDEA have yet to identify the syndicate behind the illegal drugs smuggling, the first to have been averted since the freeport, a former American naval base, operated in 1991.
“We are pursuing other leads to find Ang’s connections in the freeport. We will file a case no matter who [the people involved] are,” Villar said.
He said while Hua Long’s incorporators have all disappeared, “Ang’s connections remain.”
“He’s part of a big syndicate and we are conducting a manhunt for him and his cohorts,” Villar said.
The case for illegal drug trading filed at the Olongapo City prosecutor’s office on May 30 showed at least 13 incorporators of Ang’s company, which is based at the freeport.
Aside from Ang, the complaint listed the following incorporators: Estrella Ang, Harry Yao, Robert Lee, Rudy Chua, Chi Chang Cheng, Cai Wencong, Jou Jonq Rong, Yang Tren Yeng, Jou Jer Woel, Wu Jia Duo, Ho Li Lin and Li Jin Zhan.
Villar also revealed threats to his life following the seizure of the illegal drugs.
“They are hurting, that’s why. But we will go on. This is a scourge to our nation’s youth. They must be stopped and their protectors revealed,” he said. By Tonette Orejas, Robert Gonzaga -- Philippine Daily Inquirer
Divers of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority found the latest contraband in three boxes floating in waters across the Riviera Pier, the same area where a Taiwanese vessel suspected to be carrying the cargo docked, according to Supt. Rolando Magno, chief of the Task Force Subic, the anti-smuggling arm of the SBMA.
These were seen at 8:30 a.m., Magno told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.
The boxes were tied with ropes. A box contained five packs of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) weighing 2 kg each, he said.
PASG has turned over the latest seizure to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).
“It looked like the modus operandi is now to anchor the boxes on the shore and have these retrieved by fishing vessels,” said PASG chief Antonio Villar Jr.
“It was floating there. Our suspicion is there are more to be found. The smugglers seemed desperate to the point of dumping the illegal drugs instead of taking it out of the freeport,” said Villar.
Two boxes were also found floating near the Taiwanese vessel on May 28, following the seizure of about 90 kg of shabu in the car of the suspect, Anthony “Anton” Ang, a day before that.
The bulk of the shipment, about 600 kg, was found loaded in a rented van at the warehouse of Ang’s company, the Hua Long International Inc. inside the freeport.
Villar said there could be more shabu stored somewhere in Subic “and the syndicate is using banca (outrigger boats) to get it out.”
He said the latest find is worth about P200 million, but its value would triple “once it hits the streets.”
“This shabu is high-grade… the best we’ve seen. Ang and his bosses will kill and die for this,” he said.
Ang has yet to be arrested. He and his family left their house in West Bajac Bajac in Olongapo City after the discovery and seizure of the illegal drugs last week. (See sidebar: Where is Anton Ang?)
Hua Long is registered at the SBMA as an importer of cigarettes and liquor from China, transshipping these to other Asian countries, corporate records showed. It has been doing business at the freeport in the last four years.
PASG, SBMA and PDEA have yet to identify the syndicate behind the illegal drugs smuggling, the first to have been averted since the freeport, a former American naval base, operated in 1991.
“We are pursuing other leads to find Ang’s connections in the freeport. We will file a case no matter who [the people involved] are,” Villar said.
He said while Hua Long’s incorporators have all disappeared, “Ang’s connections remain.”
“He’s part of a big syndicate and we are conducting a manhunt for him and his cohorts,” Villar said.
The case for illegal drug trading filed at the Olongapo City prosecutor’s office on May 30 showed at least 13 incorporators of Ang’s company, which is based at the freeport.
Aside from Ang, the complaint listed the following incorporators: Estrella Ang, Harry Yao, Robert Lee, Rudy Chua, Chi Chang Cheng, Cai Wencong, Jou Jonq Rong, Yang Tren Yeng, Jou Jer Woel, Wu Jia Duo, Ho Li Lin and Li Jin Zhan.
Villar also revealed threats to his life following the seizure of the illegal drugs.
“They are hurting, that’s why. But we will go on. This is a scourge to our nation’s youth. They must be stopped and their protectors revealed,” he said. By Tonette Orejas, Robert Gonzaga -- Philippine Daily Inquirer
posted by OlongapoCity Zambales at
8:11 AM
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