Four Chinese nationals were killed while authorities confiscated PHP3.4 billion worth of shabu in a resort here on Tuesday.
In a press conference, PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said that suspects Gao Manzhu, Hong Jianshe, Eddie Tan, all from Fujian, China; and Xu Youha from Quezon City, were killed during the joint buy-bust operation by the police, Armed Forces of the Philippines Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Bureau of Customs in Barangay Libertador in Candelaria town at around 11:30 a.m.
The suspects are alleged members of a drug syndicate operating in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Calabarzon.
“Ito ay napakagandang araw para sa ating campaign against illegal drugs dahil sa pinagsanib na pwersa ng PDEA, at kasama ang PNP at iba pa mga tumulong na units sa napakagandang accomplishment against illegal drugs (This is a good day in our campaign against illegal drugs because of the joint forces of PDEA, together with PNP and other units that helped us. This is a good accomplishment against illegal drugs),” Eleazar said.
Recovered from the suspects were around 500 kilograms of shabu which are believed to be for distribution in various parts of Luzon.
PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva, meanwhile, said this is so far the biggest drug haul this year.
Last year, an operation in Marilao, Bulacan yielded some 800 kilograms of shabu worth PHP5 billion.
Villanueva said this is part of the continuous follow-up operation against those involved in last year’s operation in Bulacan.
He added that the operation was a result of a long surveillance operation on Xu, who is tagged as among the key players of illegal drug activities in the country.
Villanueva, who was also at the press conference, said anti-narcotics operatives were able to negotiate for the purchase of a kilo of shabu from the group of Xu, which resulted in the operation.
Villanueva said the illegal drugs were smuggled into the country through the international waters that were later picked up by smaller vessels. They were then transported near the coastal waters to be picked up by the local illegal drugs distributor.
“We have been working on this operation for more than three months and for the last few weeks, Xu’s activities have been really heavy and so we conducted a buy-bust this morning. We still have a pursuit operation from here. This is not the end of our tough campaign against illegal drugs because we still have to pursue other syndicates,” he added.
Eleazar said he had already deployed helicopters and speedboats of the PNP to assist in the conduct of pursuit operation against the vessel which transported the confiscated illegal drugs to the coastal waters of Zambales.
The helicopters of the PNP Air Unit and the fast crafts by the Maritime Group scoured the seawaters off Central Luzon and nearby areas as part of the pursuit operations.
Source: Philippines News Agency