Drug war moves to big traffickers

• Shabu lab owner shot dead in Valenzuela

• More drug lords will die, Bato vows

MANILA, Philippines – High-value targets up next.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa made the declaration yesterday following a raid on a suspected shabu laboratory in Valenzuela City where a suspected Chinese drug lord was shot dead.

Dela Rosa made the remark even as he admitted that the PNP is facing a daunting task in nailing down major traffickers as against street level peddlers who are getting killed by nearly a dozen each day.

Police said Meco Tan was killed during a shootout with pursuing lawmen.

Tan reportedly tried to escape and drove away during the raid, prompting policemen to give chase. The suspect allegedly opened fire at the pursuing lawmen, triggering a running firefight.

Dela Rosa went to the scene hours after the raid to personally supervise the post-action operation, during which lawmen seized a sizeable amount of shabu and chemicals used in manufacturing the illegal drug.

“There will be more Chinese (drug lords) to fall,” Dela Rosa said.

Dela Rosa said the killing of Tan showed the PNP is serious in its anti-drug campaign. 

He warned major drug traffickers and their protectors in government that the police would catch up with them in due time.

Dela Rosa said the killing of Tan is a major shift in President Duterte’s anti-illegal drug campaign.

Photo shows members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency examining ingredients for shabu seized in a warehouse operated by Tan. MICHAEL VARCAS

“As you can see, he was a big-time drug lord, a high- value target that was killed. Just wait… just wait. Don’t be in a hurry. We will kill more high-value targets,” Dela Rosa told reporters in Filipino.

Joint police operatives and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) raided the suspected drug laboratory along Santiago Street in Barangay Lingunan early yesterday.

Initial reports said four Chinese nationals were arrested during the raid.

Their identities were withheld pending verification with immigration authorities, police said. The four were reportedly working as chemists of the illicit laboratory.

Officials said Tan was operating a plastics recycling warehouse in the area as a front for the shabu laboratory.

Dela Rosa said the lawmen were supposed to serve a search warrant at the warehouse when Tan fled in his white Honda car.

“When he drove off in his car, the policemen gave chase. In fact, the windshield of one of the police patrol cars was hit by the suspect during the firefight,” he told reporters.

Dela Rosa said Tan was a major player in the manufacture of illegal drugs.

“He was responsible for putting up drug laboratories, shabu laboratories here in Metro Manila that have been busted. And here (in Valenzuela), he continues to operate his illegal business,” he said.

PDEA said Tan was involved in the manufacture of shabu with another drug lord named Jackson Dy in Naic, Cavite.

At least 600 kilos of shabu were confiscated during a raid in the laboratory in Cavite in 2003.

Tan was also involved in running a clandestine laboratory in Scout Chuatoco Street in Quezon City, where 70 kilos of shabu and 3,500 kilos of ephedrine, a chemical used in the manufacture of shabu, were confiscated by the police.

PDEA spokesman Glen Malapad said Tan had been on their watch list for several years.

Chief Insp. Kimberly Molitas, spokesperson for the National Capital Region Police Office, said Tan was a “high value target.”

Molitas confirmed reports that Tan was behind the operation of two big shabu laboratories uncovered by the government in the past years.

“However, (Tan) always eluded arrest and continued with his nefarious activities until his death yesterday, when he traded shots with pursuing policemen,” Molitas said. – With Rey Galupo, Romina Cabrera