PDEA busts alleged Chinese drug trader

Alleged drug trader Chua Kian Peng had been going in and out of the Philippines for two and a half years posing as a businessman. The pretense ended Monday when he made the mistake of selling shabu to an undercover government agent.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) on Wednesday  said Chua, alias A-Pe Chua, had a nata de coco manufacturing business in Santa Maria, Bulacan, for a cover.

“According to him, he is a native of Xiamen, China, and he holds a tourist visa,” PDEA Director General Jose S. Gutierrez said. “He had been renewing his visa every three months and had been staying in the Philippines for two and a half years now.”

But Chua could not show his passport to the authorities. Gutierrez said the PDEA was working with the Bureau of Immigration to verify Chua’s identity.

The PDEA had been shadowing Chua for some time and finally managed to entrap him on Monday when he dealt with an undercover agent who posed as a buyer of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride). The deal was for P400,000 worth.

Chua agreed to a rendezvous with the agent on Balasing Street in Pulong Buhangin. On a prearranged signal, agents grabbed Chua. The agents found 100 grams of shabu on him.

“Chua has the capacity to deal up to five kilos of shabu per transaction,” Gutierrez said. “We could have entered into a bigger transaction to nail him deeper, but we were constrained by our limited resources.”

PDEA said Chua was a member of the Li-Chua drug group, which had surrendered 14 members to  PDEA since 2009. Chua is the 15th member of the group to fall into  government hands.  DJ Yap