BALANGA CITY – Police on Sunday afternoon discovered at a vacant lot in barangay Tuyo here 12.5 kilograms of ephedrine that when processed into shabu will command a street value placed at about P20 million.
Supt. Benjamin Silo, Jr., a lawyer and chief of police of Balanga, said the white crystalline substances were in grocery bags placed inside an empty rice sack. He said that the stuff was suspected as raw ingredient of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.
He estimated that it will register about P20 million if the seized ephedrine is turned into the finished illegal product.
The material was placed under the custody of the police Bataan Crime Laboratory in Balanga City that sent some for testing in their laboratory at Camp Olivas in the City of San Fernando.
The police Regional Crime Laboratory on Monday released its findings that indeed the substance is ephedrine, a dangerous drug and prohibited by law.
A police officer who refused to be identified said that some drug users or those addicted to drugs make use of ephedrine itself without waiting for it to be processed into shabu. With the present street value of shabu reportedly at P3 million a kilogram, he said ephedrine is worth almost one-half the price.
Silo said investigations are ongoing to ascertain the source of the ephedrine and who owns it.
Supt. Benjamin Silo, Jr., a lawyer and chief of police of Balanga, said the white crystalline substances were in grocery bags placed inside an empty rice sack. He said that the stuff was suspected as raw ingredient of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.
He estimated that it will register about P20 million if the seized ephedrine is turned into the finished illegal product.
The material was placed under the custody of the police Bataan Crime Laboratory in Balanga City that sent some for testing in their laboratory at Camp Olivas in the City of San Fernando.
The police Regional Crime Laboratory on Monday released its findings that indeed the substance is ephedrine, a dangerous drug and prohibited by law.
A police officer who refused to be identified said that some drug users or those addicted to drugs make use of ephedrine itself without waiting for it to be processed into shabu. With the present street value of shabu reportedly at P3 million a kilogram, he said ephedrine is worth almost one-half the price.
Silo said investigations are ongoing to ascertain the source of the ephedrine and who owns it.
