THE Philippine government, thru the Drug Enforcement Group of the Philippine National Police (PDEG) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), confiscated a record haul of P5.525 billion worth of illegal drugs (‘crystal meth/shabu’) in four separate but coordinated operations in the provinces of Zambales, Bataan and Cavite in a span of just two days that also resulted to the death of 6 ‘high-value targets’ (HVTs).
The biggest haul, involving some 500 kilos of shabu worth some P3.4 billion, came from the PDEG-led operation at the ‘Noah’s Place’ beach resort in Candelaria, Zambales in Central Luzon last September 7, 2021, that also resulted to the death of 4 Chinese nationals after a brief firefight.
PDEG director, P/BGen. Remus Medina, in a briefing to PNP director general, P/Gen. Guillermo Tolentino Eleazar, identified the slain HVTs as:
Gao Manzhu, 49; Hong Jianshe, 58; Eddie Tan, 60, all natives of Fujian, China; and, Xu Youhua, 49, a resident of Standford Ville, Quezon City.
Medina said aside from the illegal drugs, they also recovered one .22 pistol, two .45 caliber pistols and one 9mm pistol, all fully loaded with ammunition, from the slain suspects.
Eleazar immediately rushed to the site of the incident along with Zambales governor, Hermogenes Ebdane, also a former chief of the PNP, to personally check on the situation and inspect the seized drugs.
Significantly, they were all wrapped in yellow and green Chinese tea packs, the known ‘trademark’ of the ‘SGDS’ (Sam Gor Drug Syndicate).
SGDS presence in PH unmistakable now
In a special report as far back as October 14, 2019, filed by Tom Allard for Reuters, both the International Police Organization (Interpol) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have identified SGDS (‘The Company’) headed by Chinese-Canadian, ‘Tse Chi Lop,’ as the world’s largest producer of ‘crystal meth’ (shabu) and Asia’s biggest drug syndicate with an estimated annual revenue of over US$17 billion.
SGDS is also called the ‘The Company’ as it grouped together many of Asia’s biggest criminal organizations of Chinese extraction with Tse being referred to as ‘Brother Number 3’ (Sam Gor).
Both the Interpol and the UNODC described Tse as ‘Asia’s El Chapo,’ in reference to Mexican drug cartel leader, Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman.
The SGDS drugs are noticeable for their yellow and green Chinese tea packs packaging to differentiate them from other sources.
Although Tse, (around 57 years old by now) and while using a Canadian passport, was already arrested in January 22, 2021 at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, and awaiting deportation to Australia, the volume of shabu now flooding the Philippines shows it is business as usual for his group.
The volume of apprehension by the PDEG involving SGDS drugs also showed the Duterte administration is far from winning the campaign against illegal drugs that it promised to eradicate during the presidential campaign in 2016.
Follow-up operations in Bataan, Cavite
Medina said the suspects had previously bought the beach resort and used it as their “stash house” for their “offshore (drug) smuggling” operation.
The smuggled drugs, he said, is being distributed by the suspects thru a network covering the National Capital Region, Central Luzon (Region 3) and Southern Tagalog (Region 4).
Around 4:00 pm of the same day, Medina also informed Eleazar that a joint PDEG-PDEA operation, together with other elements from the PNP, Bureau of Customs (BOC), Philippine Navy, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), resulted to the arrest of three more Chinese nationals while in possession of some 80 kilos of shabu worth P544 million.
Medina identified the suspects as Qing Chang Zhou, 37, a native of Fujian, China, alias ‘Ricky Chou,’ a resident of No. 441, San Fernando St., Binondo, Manila; Cai Cai Bin, 49, alias ‘James/Joseph Chua,’ a resident of Dasmariñas St., Binondo, Manila and also a native of Fujian; and,
Longcai Chan, 45, a ‘Hokkien’ Chinese and also a resident of Dasmariñas St., Binondo, Manila.
Medina told Pinoy Exposé that the 3 HVTs were arrested at the TIPO Exit in Bgy. Tipo-Hermosa, Bataan province.
The official added that aside from the illegal drugs, they also seized the vehicles used by the trio, one Toyota Land Cruiser and one Mitsubishi Montero, along with two cellular phones.
In Bacoor, Cavite province, south of Luzon, Medina said another PDEG-led operation in the evening of September 9, 2021, resulted in the confiscation of some 181 kilos of shabu worth P1.25 billion and the “unfortunate death” of two more HVTs.
In a report to Eleazar, a drug transaction at the house of the suspects at Block 6, Lot 15, Springville Executive-1 Subdivision, Molino 3, Bacoor, went haywire, resulting to the death of Basher Pangcoga Bangon, 59, and, Danilo Tampogaw Untavar, 51, a resident of Datu Ismael, Dasmariñas City, Cavite, a Muslim-dominated community notorious as a drug distribution hub in the province.
Medina identified Bangon, a native of Cagayan de Oro, as a “top level drug personality” (HVT) who has “direct contact” with the SGDS and whose distribution network covers the Visayas and Mindanao.
The proof of this relationship is shown by the seized drugs that are again wrapped in yellow and green Chinese tea bags, which is a trademark of the SGDS.
In a separate anti-drug operation in Imus, Cavite, at about the same time spearheaded by the PDEA, two more HVTs were arrested while in possession of some 48 kilos of SGDS drugs valued at P331.2 million.
PDEA director general, Wilkins Villanueva, told the media the operation took place at Block 6, Lot 2. Topacio St., Phase 8, Bgy. Magdalo, Bahayang Pag-asa, Imus, which resulted in the arrest of Lani Brabante Micoleta, 45, and Aldwin Mijela Micoleta, 47.
Aside from the illegal drugs, the authorities also recovered the buy-bust money, two identification cards, a cellular phone, a wallet and two Metrobank savings account passbooks from the suspects.
Villanueva said the couple are part of the network of Bangon the PDEG had neutralized in Bacoor and have been distributing their illegal drugs in Metro Manila and the Calabarzon region.
Villanueva added they are still verifying the suspects’ connection to the killed and arrested Chinese nationals in Zambales and Bataan two days previously.
However, photos of the confiscated shabu distributed to the media again showed them wrapped in the ‘trademarked’ yellow and green Chinese tea packs of the SGDS.