Seven nabbed in shabu lab raid in Laguna

By Ronron
October 30, 2007

Seven persons, including foreign nationals, were apprehended in a series of raid Tuesday morning in suspected shabu laboratory and warehouse in Laguna province, an official said.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Deputy Director General for Operations Assistant Secretary Rodolfo Caisip said the first raid was conducted at 10 am in Barangay Pagsawitan in Sta. Cruz town.

He said that armed with a search warrant issued by Quezon City Judge Jaime Salazar of Branch 103, joint elements of the PDEA and the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) of the Philippine National Police (PNP) checked on a two-storey old house that was allegedly used as a medium laboratory.

The raiding team recovered from the house some chemicals and equipment used in the manufacture of shabu, Caisip said, but “no finished product.”

A Chinese-looking man who claims to be a native of Macau was also apprehended. He was identified as Tou Heoung, 44, a shabu cook.

From there, the team proceeded to Barangay Pinagsanjan in Pagsanjan town where they raided at around 11:45 am a resort that was allegedly used as a shabu warehouse.

The team, however, recovered only some chemicals and did not find as well any finished product at the Paradise Resort.

But they nabbed six men, namely: Bruce Samson Ong, alias Michael Tan, 36, an alleged Filipino-Chinese who is the alleged mastermind; Soon Foo Siong, 40, a Singaporean national who serves as Chemist of the group; Chin Soon Goon, 46, a Malaysian national who also serves also as chemist; Jameson Go Ang, the alleged guide and interpreter of the group; Abdul Gaftar Bonsalangan, 45, an alleged courier; and Cosami Datimbang, 41, the alleged financier.

The seven were brought to the PDEA headquarters in Quezon City for interrogation and subsequent filing of case against them, said Caisip.

Caisip could not immediately say what types of chemicals and items were recovered, saying every thing was still being subjected to an inventory.

But he said the “clandestine shabu laboratory, had it reached its full blast operation, could produce high grade methamphetamine hydrochloride worth millions of pesos a day, a scenario that is definitely worst imagining.”

Caisip said the authorities discovered the place after civilians reported it to both the PDEA and AIDSOTF.

The authorities conducted a surveillance on both places in the last four months before they struck on Tuesday./DMS