Subic shabu just tip of the iceberg

THE local illegal drugs market is flooded with imported, high-grade varieties of methampetamine hydrochloride or shabu, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

The P5 billion worth of shabu that was seized in Subic was an indication that the illegal drug market was booming, PDEA director Dionisio Santiago said.

Santiago said the porous coastline of the country has made it easy for the “crystal clear” shabu from abroad to enter the local market.

“The shabu that is circulating in the market right now is 98-percent pure. There is a shortage [of local shabu] right now. The quality was poor,” Santiago said in an interview.

Santiago said that Subic Bay Freeport was not the only place being used by these syndicates, saying that all “ports, seaports, and the vast shoreline of the Philippines are always mentioned as highly vulnerable areas for drug shipments.”

He said several seizures had also been made in the ports of Manila and Cebu but Subic became more prominent because of the huge quantity of drugs recovered.

The seized shabu in Subic was discovered aboard a “cigarette boat” used by Hualong International Trading in transporting repacked cigarettes to China. The cigarette trading company is owned by a Chinese national named Anthony Ang.

Santiago said international drug syndicates have shifted back to exporting drugs to the Philippines after their local contacts have been decimated by arrests over the years.