300 ADDICTS NABBED IN SHABU DEN

POLICE arrested 300 men, women and children yesterday for operating a
flea market in Pasig City where shabu was sold openly and where buyers
could snort drugs in a maze of shanties and cubicles.

Police seized about two kilos of shabu, repacked into small plastic
sachets, assorted drug paraphernalia and two handguns from residents
of the U-shaped colony in Sto. Tomas, a few blocks away from Pasig
City Hall and the local community precinct.

At P2,000 a gram, the seized drugs were worth about P4
million.

Philippine National Police Chief Arturo Lomibao, who visited the
raided drug market on Ed Soriano Street in Barangay Palatiw,
immediately sacked the seven-member police precinct led by Senior
Insp. Salvador dela Cruz.

"It is incomprehensible to me that these things would happen right in
the middle of this area with policemen around," a visibly angry
Lomibao told reporters.

The raided U-shaped settlement had at least 100 cubicles for sniffing
shabu, and den operators directed buyers to their designated entry and
exit points. In the cubicles, buyers were given a selection of pipes
(called "tooters") and burners and asked to pay for the ones they
used. Sachets of shabu sold for about P200.

Buyers were required to pay in cash, sniff the shabu inside the
cubicles and leave "as if nothing happened."

Police Director Marcelo Ele Jr., chief of the PNP Anti-Illegal
Drugs-Special Operations Task Force, said his men had put the den
under surveillance for a week before they were able to penetrate the
operation.

"This place is a talipapa (wet market) for shabu," Ele said.

A price list showed the entry fees for buyers: P10 for one person, P15
for two people, P20 for three, and P40 for five.

A poster outside the entrance of the colony read "Ingatan ang inyong
mga anak sa droga [Keep your children safe from drugs] - Pasig City
Mayor Enteng Eusebio."

Ele said the area had been raided in the past, but the suspects were
always released on bail.

The arrested women and about 50 minors would be brought to the
Department of Social Welfare and Development and subjected to a drug
test, he added.