EDITORIAL - Two down, more to go

Three years after a police raid shut down a drug den in Pasig, the operators were convicted of drug trafficking and meted the maximum penalty the other day. Amin Imam Boratong and his second wife Sheryl Molera will have to spend the rest of their lives in prison for maintaining a virtual shabu flea market or tiangge near the Pasig City Hall. More than 60 other people were convicted together with the couple but meted lesser penalties. Pasig Regional Trial Court Judge Abraham Borreta also fined Boratong P10 million and Molera P1 million. The couple’s assets may also be seized.

Those assets are considerable, indicating the immense profitability of the illegal drug trade. The Anti-Money Laundering Council, which is going after Boratong’s assets, estimates that the convicted drug dealer amassed at least P900 million from just five years of operating the shabu tiangge. How this became possible should be studied carefully by law enforcers to prevent its repeat. Similar operations have been reported recently in Pasig. Though the new operations are smaller, they could quickly become major activities, considering the massive profits to be made from drug trafficking.

At the time of the raid, police and barangay officials were tagged as protectors of the drug den, which looked like a slum compound where shabu and other prohibited drugs were sold and used. That kind of operation could not have lasted so long without the protection of those who are supposed to report and stop such illegal activities. The raid had to be conducted by the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force of the Philippine National Police and the prosecution doggedly pursued.

Without that kind of persistence and refusal to be bribed on the part of government authorities, drug traffickers will continue to flourish. Notorious drug dealers have eluded raids on shabu laboratories. They have walked out of maximum security detention cells at PNP headquarters at Camp Crame. They have been freed on technicalities by corrupt judges, and allowed to leave the country by corrupt immigration agents. The illegal drug industry is big business, which can corrupt entire societies if left unchecked. The conviction of Boratong is laudable and should be followed by more victories in the battle against drugs.