MEGA SHABU LABORATORY, NATAGPUAN SA MT. ARAYAT, PAMPANGA

A clandestine illegal drugs laboratory that had the potential to produce 100 kilograms of methamphetamine hydro-chloride (shabu) per day was discovered by local officials and policemen in a remote village at the foot of Mt. Arayat on Thursday, September 22.
Arayat town mayor Emmanuel Alejandrino said he was with a team of policemen, sanitation officers, and fire protection officers when they tried to inspect the gated and fenced property in Barangay Lacquios.
“But when the two Chinese-looking men inside saw us, they quickly ran and jumped over the high concrete fence at the back of the compound,” he said.
Policemen tried to pursue them but since they had to go around the fenced compound, they lost the suspects in the bushes.
PDEA Region III information officer Glen Guillermo told Rappler the machines and equipment inventoried by the agency inside the compound include a combustion tower setup, a diesel-powered power generator, one industrial chiller, a set of power controllers, 7 units of industrial distillation setup, and a reaction mixer.
Pampanga provincial police director Senior Supt. Rodolfo Recomono Jr. told reporters that a gas chromatography machine was also discovered inside the compound and was placed under the custody of the police crime laboratory.
“This gas chromatography, according to the crime lab, determines the purity or quality of shabu, the finished product. It is now in the custody of the crime lab,” he said.
Quoting crime laboratory officers, Recomono said the apparatus found inside the illegal drugs laboratory can produce 100 kilos or more shabu per day.
“This shabu laboratory is bigger than the one discovered in Camiling, Tarlac a few years ago. It could be the biggest clandestine shabu lab in the Philippines. The syndicate responsible for establishing this lab might have thought that it would not be discovered since it is located at the foot of the mountain and is surrounded by piggeries and poultices,” he said.