THE Quezon City Police District and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency on Tuesday raided a shabu laboratory in Barangay Baesa, and confiscated 200 kilos of raw shabu with a street value of P1 billion.
Chief Supt. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar said authorities served the search warrant issued by Quezon City Regional Trial Court’s Branch 89 Judge Cecilyn Burgos at a warehouse located on Caroline Street, Quirino Highway in Baesa at around 9:10 a.m.
Eleazar was accompanied by PDEA’s National Capital Region director Wilkins Villanueva.
The raid was an offshoot of a tip from an informant about one Kwok Kuen Yu, a Hong Kong national confirmed to be one of the members of the drug syndicate putting up shabu laboratories in the Philippines.
PDEA arrested several members and cohorts of the international drug syndicate in Binondo, Manila on Oct. 26, 2016 and confiscated five kilos of shabu, 38 kilos of sodium hydroxide and firearms.
According to PDEA, they had been monitoring the whereabouts of the drug syndicate in Metro Manila and nearby regions since 2013.
The intelligence and investigation service of PDEA undertook the surveillance of Kwok Kuen Yu, while a confidential informant with a PDEA agent was able to penetrate the Baesa shabu laboratory.
The laboratory yielded precursors, essential chemical substance, mixers and the 200 kilos of shabu.
“No finished products were found on the premises,” Eleazar said.“The public is the best early warning system of any police force. Their vigilance, alertness, and immediate reporting to police is the linchpin of police efficiency and effectiveness,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Department of Labor and Employment urged employers and labor leaders to conduct surprise drug tests to their officials and employees at least once a year to reduce the risk of drug proliferation in their workplace.
However, the department advised employers and labor leaders to observe strict confidentiality with regards to the drug test screening and results handling.
DoLE Director Benjo Santos Benavidez of the Bureau of Labor Relations said the drug tests is in line with its campaign to achieve a drug-free workplace.
The Department recently conducted seminars on the Guidelines for the Implementation of a Drug-Free Workplace Policies and Programs for the Private Sector which states that DOLE, together with the employers and employees, should work hand-in-hand in formulating policies and programs on prohibiting drug use in the workplace.
Benavidez said that the seminar on labor management information and employment guide, Gender and Development (GAD) and other women related laws, and drug abuse prevention in the workplace is one of the labor department’s ways in ensuring the protection, safety, and security of the employees in the private sector.
“DOLE is one with President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign in making the Philippines a drug-free country. We are one of the instruments to ensure that this goal is being reached. We hope to solicit support from our partners in the labor sector in achieving a drug-free workplace,” Benavidez said.
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