On Friday, August 25, 2023, government authorities found 200 kilos of shabu worth a staggering P1.3 billion. The illegal drugs was found in an abandoned Toyota Avanza vehicle in the parking area of SM Hypermarket in Bgy. Camachiles, Mabalacat City, Pampanga.
The volume of shabu recovered not only in Mabalacat City but elsewhere in Pampanga province indicated the return of the scourge in wild abandon after former President Rodrigo Duterte stepped out of Malacanang. Even with Duterte still in Malacanang, shabu had been traded by shadowy individuals.
With Duterte out of the picture, the illegal drug traders are at it again with the illegal drugs business that our government seemed unable to stop with all what happened in the past under the Duterte administration.
200 kilos of shabu is just a big stash by any standard and it would make someone filthy rich, so rich that if this belongs to one illegal drug trader, he or she will not work for a lifetime. But this volume of illegal drugs had the potential to destroy the lives of young people instead of making them productive individuals in the society. The shabu stash was found inside an abandoned red Avanza with plate ZGS643 at the SM Hypermarket parking area.
So why would someone leave a huge shabu stash in a parking lot? It could be the illegal drug trader had sensed the entrapment in the course of the deal and government authorities are already hot in their pursuit. SM Hypermarket in Bgy. Camachiles, Mabalacat City is near the SCTEX and the NLEX, where the illegal drug traders could easily escape.
The National Bureau of Investigation and PRO3 are now working closely together to determine the suspects behind the abandoned drugs.
It was not the first time that a billion worth of shabu had been seized in Pampanga province. At the height of the Duterte war on drugs, billions of pesos of shabu had been seized also. Remember the shabu factory in Barangay Lacquios, Arayat, Pampanga which was discovered in 2016? This, after an underground shabu laboratory was found in nearby Magalang town.
These shabu factories in Pampanga province existed in the past in the pretext of operating a piggery farm or corn crushers. The piggery farm in Barangay Balitucan, Magalang, Pampanga, concealed the underground shabu factory. These illegal drug traders had found ways to conceal their illegal operations.
With illegal drugs trade back, we can expect the return of more patients in drug rehabilitation centers all over the country. We can expect increase in crime rate. We can expect the rise in deaths related to illegal drugs.
Under the Duterte drug war, no big fish had been captured. Although, the former president announced the names of public officials involved in narco-politics. Some of those mentioned by Duterte are now running for barangay captain while others seek other positions.
In the meantime, shabu continues to flood our streets once again.