NBI ARRESTS CHEMIST FOR MISSING SHABU

The Natonal Bureau of Investigation has declared the case of the
missing 7.37 kilos of shabu from its evidence laboratory solved with
the arrest of one of its former chemists in Malolos, Bulacan last Thursday.

A report submitted to NBI Acting Director Fermin Nasol identified the
suspect as Howell Mapoy, 29, formerly assigned at the NBI-Forensic
Chemistry Division (NBI-FCD), of Grand Town Village, Sumapang Matanda,
Malolos.

Investigation conducted by the NBI's Domestic Intelligence Services
showed some "suspicious indications" connected to the loss.

According to the NBI, when a bureau special committee started a probe
of the FCD last April 29 regarding the missing shabu, Mapoy filed a
request for transfer to the Bureau of Mines even though his
appointment papers were not yet in order at that time. Later, Mapoy
went on leave, allegedly to elude investigation, the NBI said.

After three NBI-FCD employees were relieved in connection with the
loss, Mapoy returned to the NBI headquarters last May 28 to retrieve
his personal belongings. It was then that he was questioned and
subjected to a polygraph test. According to NBI, of the FCD employees
who were subjected to the polygraph test, it was only Mapoy who
flunked the test and manifested positive reactions to questions on the
missing drugs.

Investigators were also puzzled by Mapoy's alleged sudden wealth,
such as a brand new scooter and an airconditioned residence. A deeper
probe conducted by the NBI showed that Mapoy joined the NBI in 1997
and was assigned to different sections of the FCD, including a stint
of two years at the Dangerous Drugs Section.

Acting on the information, the NBI was issued a search warrant by
Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Enrico Lanzanas.

During Mapoy's arrest, NBI-DIS agents also found 20.58 grams of
shabu allegedly in his residence. Investigators are also trying to
establish a link based on intelligence reports that the suspect's
relatives are also-into drug trafficking, the NBI said. Charges of
drug possession and qualified theft are now being readied by the NBI
against Mapoy.

According to an NBI source, laxity in enforcing security rules and
regulations inside the FCD office could have allowed Mapoy to take out
small quantities of shabu from the drug evidence vault over a long
period of time between March 2001 and April 2002.

Last May 24, the chief of the NBI's Forensic Chemistry Division
(FCD) and two others assigned to the division were ordered relieved
and charged administratively by Wycoco over the disappearance of the
shabu under their custody.

Ordered relieved and charged with gross neglect of duty and misconduct
before the Office of the Ombudsman were Idabel Pagulayan, acting FCD
chief; NBI-Dangerous Drugs Division section chief Constancia Salonga;
and evidence custodian designate Lucia Gonzales.

According to Wycoco, the three were relieved of their responsibilities
and were made to account for their negligence and administrative lapses.

In his report to Wycoco, then NBI deputy director for intelligence
services and head of the investigation committee Samuel Ong said that
a re-weighing of the drug haul showed that only 7.37 kilos of shabu
worth P14 million were missing from the total 247.58 kilos of shabu
recovered by STF agents from a unit of the Somerset Mansions in Pasay
City on Dec. 26, 2000.

The loss of the illegal drugs, was uncovered when Pasay City Regional
Trial Court Judge Cesar Ylagan ordered the destruction of the
narcotics which was part of about 250 kilos of shabu seized from a
condominium unit registered to a certain Sandra Lim at the Somerset
Mansions on Leveriza St., Pasay City, on Dec. 26, 2000. The drugs were
deposited in the evidence room of the NBI dangerous drugs section,
forensic chemistry division.

In his report to Ylagan, dated May 2, 2002, deputy sheriff Rodolfo
Toledana said the drugs were supposed to be transported to the boiler
incinerator of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in
Alabang, Muntinlupa City for destruction.

A report by Toledana dated May 2, 2002 said the 8.67 kilos of shabu
contained in five plastic bags were discovered missing during an
inventory made by the sheriff of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court
and by the Dangerous Drugs Board on April 18. A re-weighing later
conducted by the NBI showed that the actual missing drugs were only
7.37 kilos.