VisMin waters monitored for floating shabu labs

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Intelligence agencies are monitoring the waters of the Visayas and Mindanao amid reports regarding suspected floating shabu laboratories.

“We have received credible information that drug lords are putting up shabu factories in yachts,” Alvin Enciso, Bureau of Customs (BOC)-Northern Mindanao Intelligence and Investigation Services head, said yesterday.

Enciso said intelligence personnel of the BOC, Philippine Coast Guard, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), Philippine Navy, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, National Bureau of Investigation and Armed Forces of the Philippines are coordinating their efforts to locate the floating laboratories.

Ruby Claudia Alameda, BOC-Region 10 district collector, requested the  PDEA regional office to send their agents during inspection of foreign vessels suspected of bringing in smuggled items.

“We just want to make sure there are no illegal drugs entering our ports,” Alameda said.

A fishing vessel that allegedly served as a floating shabu laboratory was seized off the coast of Subic, Zambales last month.

Four Chinese men from Hong Kong were arrested and half a kilo of suspected shabu worth P2.5 million was seized.