NarcGroup told to take extra security measures

"Take extra personal security measures."

This was the directive of Director Efren Fernandez, chief of the Narcotics Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to all NarcGroup agents amid threats of the Hong Kong-based drug syndicate busted last Monday in Makati City to get even with them.

No amount of threats can stop his men from going after bigtime drug syndicates, but Fernandez said NarcGroup agents should ensure their personal safety and security while performing anti-drug operations.

"Such threats are part of our job," said Fernandez in an interview. "But we must not take this thing lightly; instead, we will take extra precautions so the drug syndicates will have a hard time making good their threat."

Fernandez said the drug syndicate headed by Cai Hui Ding alias Tony Lao which they busted in Makati City last Monday was known for killing their erring top leaders and couriers in front of gathered gang members to impose discipline on their rank-and-file.

Lao yielded four kilos of shabu during a buy-bust operation at the corner of Leviste and Herrera Streets, Barangay Bel-Air Monday. A follow-up operation the next day at Unit 16- Island Plaza also on Leviste St., led to the recovery of another kilo of shabu. The arrest of Lao brought to four the major drug pipelines busted by the NarcGroup since they launched a relentless anti-drug campaign late last year. At least 1,000 kilos of shabu were confiscated.

Earlier, NarcGroup operatives busted the bigtime drug syndicates headed by Wah Yah and Juanito Ty and crippled the operation of the San Juan shabu laboratory.

It was not the first time that the NarcGroup agents were threatened after they successfully busted bigtime drug syndicates. The financier and top leaders of the crippled San Juan shabu laboratory also put up a P6 million fund to get even with them.

The NarcGroup chief issued his directive so that his agents and informants will not suffer the fate of David Sy-Lato who was gunned down in Binondo, Manila last January while tracing the money trail of the financiers of the shabu lab in San Juan.

"We don’t want another Lato case, so I’m directing my men to take personal security above all while performing their assigned tasks," said Fernandez.

Because the major players of the four bigtime drug syndicates are already out of the graces of their financiers and protectors, Fernandez said his men monitored the gang recruiting new players so they could start their businesses from scratch.

"They are looking for replacements and we are aware of what they are doing because reports from our informants keep on filtering in," said Fernandez, noting that his men are already in place to make arrests in due time.

Reports said that Lao was arrested in year 2000 by elements of the defunct Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) also in Makati City but he bribed his way out to the tune of P10 million.

The NarcGroup and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) are presently digging deeper as to how Lao managed to free himself considering that he was an undocumented alien.

"Lao’s group is the most disciplined gang we encountered," said a Narcotics official. "They have a big network including legal and illegal fronts but we were able to penetrate them with our deep penetration agents (DPAs)," said Fernandez.