3 Chinese nabbed in buy-bust operation, P135-M shabu seized

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines — Three Chinese nationals were arrested in a buy bust operation that resulted in the seizure of 26.7 kilos of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) worth P135 million, which was to be sold in Metro Manila and nearby provinces, the police said on Wednesday.

Senior Superintendent Ismael Fajardo Jr., head of a special operation unit of the police Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF), named the arrested foreigners as Yang Mou, Cai Chun Yuan and Xu Jian Ye who were subjects of an arrest warrant issued by a court in Manila.

In a phone interview Wednesday, Fajardo said the authorities had been monitoring the group’s movement since they learned about the alleged warehouse that the suspects had been renting in Barangay (village) De Ocampo in Trece Martires City in Cavite.

The police set up a buy-bust operation in Binondo, Manila, on Tuesday afternoon that resulted in the arrest of Mou and Yuan.

However during the entrapment operation, Ye was able to escape, prompting the operatives to chase him towards Cavite province.

“We learned that he went back to their warehouse in Cavite,” Fajardo said.

AIDSOTF operatives, in coordination with the Cavite police, arrested the third suspect around 10 p.m.

The police recovered around 26.7 kilograms of shabu amounting to P135 million kept inside Ye’s car.

Fajardo said they have been coordinating with the Bureau of Immigration to verify the identities of the suspects who, he said, could be part of a larger drug syndicate.

The Chinese nationals were detained at the AIDSOTF’s detention facility in Camp Crame in Quezon City.