SHABU TIANGGE OPEN 24 HOURS

A FLEA market for shabu that is open 24 hours a day just like any
convenience store was discovered by anti-narcotics agents yesterday
after at least 300 people, including women and minors, were arrested
and two kilos of the contraband were seized in a raid of a drug
complex in Pasig City.

The raiding team discovered an elaborate maze of shanties and cubicles
where pot sessions were held and shabu was openly sold.

Police were taken aback at the shameless and open trading of the
addictive drug, with one shop even named as Shabu-Shabu Restaurant.

Others offered free tastes while most shops displayed price lists in
menu boards for different amounts of metamphetamine hydrochloride, or
shabu.

Customers were lured with extra services, including liquor and the
choice of videokes or rock-and-roll music.

"May mga menu board pa with corresponding prices on certain drugs. For
a mere P5 or P10, makakagamit na nga shabu right there and then," said
Marcelo Ele Jr., chief of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations
Task Force (AID-SOTF).

"Pagkagamit, alis na," he said, referring to what is commonly called
as "Silip Ulo" where addicts, after paying a minimal fee, place their
heads into a small window to take a sniff of the contraband. "May
signs posted pa na 'Bawal Dito ang Istambay.'"

Police confiscated suspected shabu repacked in small plastic sachets
as well as assorted drug paraphernalia.

"Parang one-stop shop ang compound," said Sr. Insp. Ismael Fajardo as
he tagged the area the "Little Nicaragua."

"Lahat ng shanties may sariling lamesa kung saan doon nagbebentahan at
bumabatak ang customer," he said.

Police raided the shabu tiangge located at the back of the Mutya ng
Pasig Public Market and a few blocks away from Police Community
Precinct 20 and some 500 meters from the Pasig City Hall and the
Eastern Police District headquarters on Caruncho Avenue.

Operatives of the AID-SOTF and the Special Action Force stormed the
600-square-meter compound located at the squatters' area on F. Soriano
St., Bgy. Sto. Tomas, and caught the suspects in the act of selling
and sniffing shabu at about 11:30 a.m. yesterday.

Police said there were at least 40 shanties inside the Mapayapa
compound.

Ele said all the shanties were being used as drug dens, entertaining
buyers and users of the prohibited drugs on a 24-hour basis. Other
suspects were allegedly smoking marijuana when they were arrested.

The suspects did not resist arrest after they were surrounded by some
100 policemen who were armed with a search warrant issued by Executive
Judge Natividad Giron-Dizon of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court.

Police also confiscated an undetermined amount of cash in different
denominations believed to be proceeds in the sale of prohibited drugs.
They also seized two .45-cal. pistols, a Carbine rifle and a.38-cal.
revolver.

No less than Philippine National Police chief Arturo Lomibao, who was
present during the raid, was shocked over the discovery of the shabu
market

"Heads will roll in our police forces," warned Lomibao who was visibly
dismayed about the drug compound.

He expressed surprise why the local police failed to monitor the
illegal activities of the drug dealers allegedly headed by a certain
Dario, believed to be among those arrested in the raid.

A fuming Lomibao ordered National Capital Region police chief Vidal
Querol to relieve from duty Sr. Insp. Salvador dela Cruz of the Pasig
Community Precinct 20 and six personnel of the Pasig Anti-Drug Unit
for failure to monitor the open shabu market and neutralize the
widespread sale of the illegal drugs. The subordinates were not identified.

"They will be subjected to retraining" as well as investigation, said
Querol, who ordered Eastern Police District chief Oscar Valenzuela to
investigate whether Pasig police chief Raul Medina should face sanctions.

A drug test will be made on the seven policemen to determine if they
were using illegal drugs, Lomibao said.

Supt. Jojo Acierto of the PNP Special Operations Unit 3, conducted
more than two weeks of surveillance after receiving reports that shabu
was openly sold to buyers who came from nearby cities and towns.

After a test buy of shabu, Fajardo and Acierto led a team of raiders
who arrived in three trucks and seven police cars.

"We encountered no resistance," Fajardo said. "They were caught with
their pants down."

Some of the suspects tried to escape but were cornered after a brief
chase.

Medina said lawmen were not remiss on their campaign against illegal
drugs. "Nakakaaresto kami ng mga pusher d'yan sa lugar pero lagi lang
silang bumabalik," he said.

Pasig City Mayor Vicente Eusebio said he would immediately order the
demolition of the shanties in the Mapayapa compound.

"'Pag nahuhuli sila, bumabalik lang, kaya i-demolish na lang 'yan.
Bumalik na lang sila dun sa probinsiya nila," said Eusebio, who was
dismayed over the drug market.

The AID-SOTF legal staff was ordered to coordinate with the
Department of Social Welfare and Development to take custody of the
arrested minors.

The suspects, including women and minors, will undergo drug test and
those found positive for shabu will be charged in court, police said.
The male suspects, meanwhile, were brought to the PNP Custodial Center
in Camp Crame.