POLICE RAID SHABU WAREHOUSE IN TONDO

Operatives of the Western Police District (WPD) raided an abandoned unit of
a four-story condominiumin Tondo, Manila yesterday afternoon. Chemicals and
paraphernalia allegedly used in the manufacture of shabu were seized.

Police swooped down on a building located at 1753 Abad Santos Avenue in
Tondo after Alex Chan, the building's owner, sought police assistance in
breaking into the building's basement, which had been padlocked and
abandoned by its lessee who mysteriously disappeared.

Chan identified the missing tenant as Eugene Que Tan, reportedly a trader
from Valenzuela City. Chan said Tan stopped going to his rented unit about
a month ago.

The basement, which was converted into a small warehouse, yielded sacks
labeled as PVC Resin, which police suspect as ephedrine, the main
ingredient in the manufacture of shabu. There were also large bottles of
suspected thionyl chloride and acetone, weighing scales, mixers or dryers,
a large oven and large glass funnels.

"These chemicals and paraphernalia are indicators that the place was used
for the manufacture of shabu," said Superintendent Marcelino Pedrozo Jr.,
chief of the WPD's District Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operations Group.

The seized chemicals and equipment will be brought to the Philippine
National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory for examination.