Meth 'disaster' for region as seizures surge in Thailand

BANGKOK - Seizures of high-purity crystal methamphetamine have surged more than tenfold in Thailand over the past 2 years, statistics show, a stark indicator of the growth in industrial-scale production of the stimulant in neighboring Myanmar.

Thailand is a major trafficking route for crystal meth manufactured in Myanmar's Shan and Kachin states, where police say Asian organised crime groups have allied with local pro-government militias and armed rebels to set-up "super labs".

The drug syndicates have distributed the meth across the Asia-Pacific region, from South Korea to New Zealand and most countries in between, authorities say.

Some 18.4 tonnes of crystal meth, also known as ice, was seized in Thailand in 2018, according to preliminary statistics from the country's Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) reviewed by Reuters. The final data is expected to be released publicly next month.

That is up from 5.2 tonnes in 2017 and 1.6 tonnes in 2016. It's more than treble the amount captured across all of Southeast Asia five years ago.

Myanmar's illicit labs also pump out tablets of meth mixed with caffeine, commonly know as "yaba", or crazy pill, in the Thai language. The tablets are popular with low-paid workers in grueling jobs and poor recreational drug users across Southeast Asia.

Thai authorities seized 516 million meth tablets in 2018, more than double the previous year and 4-and-a-half times the 114 million pills captured in 2016.

Niyom Termsrisuk, secretary general of the ONCB, told Reuters that, despite the rising seizures, prices for meth are falling, suggesting far more is eluding authorities than being stopped.

The average price of a meth tablet was 200 baht ($6.33) in 2013. The latest data, for 2017, showed a yaba pill can be bought for as little as 80 baht ($2.50), he said.

By flooding Thailand and other countries with meth, organised crime groups have "generated new users" by enticing them with lower prices, Niyom said. The users then become dependent on the highly addictive drug, creating a bigger market for the product.

"2018 A DISASTER"

Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle - which encompasses northern Myanmar and parts of Laos and Thailand - has long been a hub of illicit drug trafficking.

While opium cultivation and heroin refining has fallen in the past decade, methamphetamine production has more than filled the breach.

"It's hard to say anything other than 2018 was a disaster for the meth supply coming out of Myanmar," said Jeremy Douglas, the Asia representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Law enforcement agencies were overwhelmed while "health authorities are seriously under-resourced and have limited capacity to offer treatment", he added.

Regional police and analysts told Reuters that organised crime groups exploit the semi-lawless northern Myanmar borderlands, doing deals with the multitude of ethnic armed gangs and state-sponsored militias who control territory there.

The ONCB's Niyom said 8 tonnes of crystal meth had been captured en route to southern Thailand and the border with Malaysia in 2018. From there, "it was on its way to other markets", he said.

In the past year, police have intercepted boats laden with meth that left the Malaysian city of Penang. Syndicates also use "motherships" that pick up the drugs in the Andaman Sea and distribute them as far afield as Australia and New Zealand.

Meth from Myanmar has also been found smuggled in shipping containers in the Philippines and Malaysia.

According to regional anti-drugs police, who spoke on condition of anonymity, chemists are brought in from Taiwan and China to run the meth labs in Myanmar, while the precursors and lab equipment mostly come from China.

Last month, Myanmar's military intercepted state-of-the-art laboratory equipment near Muse, a city in Shan state on the Chinese border.

Regional police say the crystal meth produced in Myanmar is the purest they have seen.

According to an ONCB briefing document reviewed by Reuters, 99.92 percent of the crystal meth seized in Thailand in the first 6 months of 2018 was 90 percent pure or higher.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

New Zealand police seize 190 kg of cocaine hidden in banana shipment

WELLINGTON - New Zealand police and customs officials said on Friday they seized 190 kg (418.9 pounds) of cocaine with a street value of up to NZ$36 million ($25 million) that arrived in Auckland in a shipment of bananas, the country's largest-ever drug bust.

A 41-year-old man was arrested in neighboring Australia in connection with the seizure, New Zealand authorities said in a statement. Police put the street value of the cocaine at between NZ$28 million and NZ$36 million ($19 million-$25 million).

The haul followed an Australian investigation into an organized crime group. Officials there said a potential shipment of illicit drugs was heading to Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, after leaving Balboa, Panama, on Aug. 4.

The shipment arrived in Auckland on Aug. 20. Authorities inspected the container and found 5 duffel bags on top of banana boxes that contained 190 blocks of cocaine, each weighing around a kilogram.

The joint investigation between New Zealand and Australian authorities concluded in the past 24 hours with the arrest of the unidentified man in Sydney, the statement said.

Police said the drugs were destined for Australia.

"This seizure has stopped what would have been a very significant amount of harm," New Zealand's Minister of Customs Kris Faafoi said in a separate statement. ($1 = 1.4650 New Zealand dollars)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

'Is he gay'? Paolo Duterte camp hits Trillanes over tattoo inquiry

MANILA - Davao Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte's legal counsel on Thursday questioned Senator Antonio Trillanes IV's motives for asking the president's son to strip to show his tattoo.

"Why does he want to see my client's tattoo? Is he gay? If he's gay I may have allowed him to see it," lawyer Rainier Madrid told reporters after his client attended the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing on the entry of P6.4B worth of illegal drugs in the country.

Madrid said he advised Duterte to decline showing his tattoo as the body mark was not related to the subject of the nearly 4-hour long congressional inquiry.

"My client refuses to be an "uto-uto" (gullible)... I will not allow my client to be humiliated under such a silly circumstance," Madrid said.

"We do not want to dignify Trillanes' accusations and fishing expedition. The issue discussed in the committee is not [the] existence of the tattoo," he added.

Madrid said he neither saw nor got a confirmation from the Davao vice mayor if the tattoo on his back was a "colored dragon" as Trillanes alleged.

"A tattoo is a very private matter. I won't ask my client to show it to me unless I'm gay and I want to see his body," he said.

Madrid said Trillanes was just spewing propaganda to get back at President Rodrigo Duterte for not choosing the former military man as his runningmate in the 2016 presidential elections.

"He's just going after the president's weakest link which is his son," he said.

During the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee's 7th hearing on the Customs mess, Trillanes alleged that the Davao vice mayor belongs to a "triad" that operates smuggling activities in Hong Kong and China.

The senator said proof of Duterte's triad membership was a "colored dragon tattoo" on his back that had serial numbers that would indicate which "triad faction" he belonged to.

But Duterte refused to show the body mark, invoking his right to privacy.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Kian shot twice in the head, no 'finishing shot': PNP Crime Lab

MANILA - An autopsy conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory shows 17-year-old Kian Loyd Delos Santos was shot twice in the head.

In a press conference Wednesday, medico legal officer Jane Monson, said the two bullets entered the left ear of the 11th grader and went out of the right ear.

An autopsy done by the Public Attorney's Office (PAO) forensic laboratory also showed that Delos Santos was shot 3 times—twice in the ear, once in the back.


The PAO forensic laboratory autopsy said the location of the gunshot wounds to his ears also showed that Delos Santos was on the ground when he was shot.

"Angulated 'yung trajectory. Ibig sabihin nakatayo lang 'yung shooter. Mukhang ang finishing shot 'yung tumama dito sa loob ng tenga," Dr. Erwin Erfe, chief of the PAO Forensic Laboratory, explained.

However, the PNP Crime Laboratory said the downward trajectory of the gunshots does not automatically mean that the teen was on the ground when he was shot.

"[Puwedeng] matangkad 'yung assailant kasi pababa, or 'yung position nasa steep [place] sila tas nasa taas 'yung bumabaril. Pero we cannot really say na nakahiga or ano," said Monson, saying it could be a finishing shot.

The PNP's medico legal officer, meanwhile, said a "finishing shot" is impossible as they did not find soot or stippling that would suggest that Delos Santos was shot pointblank.

The PNP autopsy also found an incision that shows the body was embalmed already before it underwent autopsy, which makes it difficult to identify entry and exit points.

"If it's embalmed,maraming limitations. Sometimes di mo talaga ma-recognize ang entry at exits if it's really embalmed na especially pag natahi na 'yan," she said.

Monson said under their protocol, bodies in violent crimes should not be embalmed before autopsy. But sometimes it is not in their control, she stressed, as families of the deceased want to embalm the body immediately.

Public outrage is growing over Delos Santos' death, which had been decried as a case of extrajudicial killing under the administration's war against illegal drugs.

CCTV footage showed Kian Loyd Delos Santos, Autopsy, PNP, Crime laboratory, Drugs, War on drugs that two cops in civilian clothes accosted Delos Santos towards the direction where he was killed. Witnesses also said they saw the officers blindfold and beat the teenager before the shooting. They added, Delos Santos was killed even though he was already pleading for his life.

Witnesses said they followed the cops and saw how they handed a gun to Delos Santos and instructed him to shoot it then run. When he heeded these instructions, the teenager was shot dead.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Indonesian President orders officers to shoot drug traffickers

JAKARTA - Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has instructed law enforcement officers to shoot drug traffickers to deal with a narcotics emergency facing the country.

"Be firm, especially to foreign drug dealers who enter the country and resist arrest. Shoot them because we indeed are in a narcotics emergency position now," Widodo said in a speech delivered at an event held by one of Indonesia's political parties late on Friday.

His remarks have drawn comparison to that of Philippine's President Rodrigo Duterte, who launched a brutal anti-drug crackdown about a year ago that saw many alleged drug dealers killed.

The bloody campaign in the Philippines has drawn condemnation from the international community, including the United Nations.

Indonesia also has tough laws against drugs. Widodo has previously been criticized for ordering executions against convicted drug traffickers who were given a death penalty by the court. Rights activists and some governments have called on Indonesia to abolish the death penalty.

Friday's shooting order from Widodo came a week after Indonesian police shot dead a Taiwanese man in a town near the capital Jakarta.

The man, who was part of a group trying to smuggle one tonne of crystal methamphetamine into the country, was killed for resisting arrest, police have said.

After the incident, Indonesian National Police chief Tito Karnavian was quoted by media saying he had ordered officers not to hesitate shooting drug dealers who resist arrest.

Reporting by Jakarta bureau; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Shri Navaratnam

source: news.abs-cbn.com

LOOK: Police take De Lima mug shot

MANILA - Police on Friday took Senator Leila de Lima's activity shot at Camp Crame following her arrest at the Senate.

De Lima was arrested Friday after a judge found merit in criminal charges filed by the Department of Justice last week. She will be detained at the Custodial Center at the national police headquarters, Camp Crame.

EARLIER: PNP SOCO personnel preparing Sen. De Lima for her mugshots. @ABSCBNNews pic.twitter.com/nte5e6ALrY

— Maan Macapagal (@maan_macapagal) February 24, 2017

The embattled senator has vowed to face all charges against her which she has branded as "political persecution."

"The truth will come out and I will achieve justice. I am innocent," she told reporters shortly before law enforcers escorted her away from her office.

Apart from De Lima, her former driver and bodyguard Ronnie Dayan was also arrested.

De Lima, a human rights lawyer before joining government, said the charges are a vendetta against her after she last year led a Senate probe into alleged extrajudicial killings during Duterte's anti-drugs crackdown.

-- reports from Maan Macapagal, ABS-CBN News, Reuters

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Kerwin claims P50-M in narco sales yearly, P20-M for payola

MANILA - Suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa on Wednesday claimed he had gross sales of about P50 million yearly in the illegal drug trade while giving out P20 million in protection money to individuals linked to his illegal drug network.

In his testimony before the Senate, Espinosa said he has been earning around P50 to P60 million a year since 2013.

However, he only earned around P30 to P35 million in 2016.

Espinosa said about 50 percent of gross sales in his drug business is profit. Of this amount, he sets aside more than P20 million to pay off officials and other people involved in the narcotics trade.

"Sa P50 million, your honor, may P20 (million) plus ako na payola," he said at a Senate hearing.

(In my P50-million earnings, I allocate more than P20 million for drug payoffs.)


According to Espinosa, he also has legitimate businesses where he pays taxes.

Espinosa earlier claimed he gave at least P3 million to the police official who led the raid that led to the killing of his father, Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa.

He also claimed he gave a total of P8 million in drug payoffs to Senator Leila de Lima through her former driver, Ronnie Dayan.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Jaybee Sebastian to supply bank details, list of 'Ninja Cops' to DOJ

Convicted crime boss Jaybee Sebastian on Monday promised to give the Department of Justice (DOJ) the bank details and a list of cops connected with the illegal drug trade.

Sebastian said he was "very much willing" to give the DOJ all the bank accounts that were used in the illegal drug operations inside the New Bilibd Prison (NBP).

Sebastian was also "willing to do some research" and surrender to the department all the names of so-called "Ninja Cops," who resold illegal drugs they confiscate during operations.


He said some police officers would seize 300 kilos of shabu but only present 30 to the public and their superiors. They will then resell 270 kilos for profit.

"Ito ang tunay na dahilan kung bakit lumaganap ang droga sa Pilipinas [This is the real reason why illegal drugs spread across the Philippines]," he said at Monday's House committee hearing on the illegal drug trade inside the NBP.

Sebastian, who was appearing at the inquiry for the first time, testified that he gave at least P14 million in drug payoffs to Senator Leila De Lima in 2014.


Previous witnesses claimed that Sebastian had ordered them to sell drugs to add funds to De Lima's campaign kitty for the 2016 senatorial elections.

Sebastian stayed quiet until Monday and clarified that he never refused to testify.

"Actually hindi po totoo yan [Actually that is not true]," he said.

He even personally supplied the solicitor general information about the illegal drug trade and other anomalies inside the prison, he said.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Rapper Nelly arrested on felony drug charges

Grammy-award winning rapper Nelly was arrested on felony drug charges on Saturday after a Tennessee state trooper stopped the vehicle he was traveling in and found illegal drugs, authorities said.

The rapper's motor coach was stopped on Saturday morning on Interstate 40 in Putnam County for not displaying legally required stickers, when a state trooper smelled marijuana from the vehicle, the Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security said.

A search turned up methamphetamine, a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, as well as several handguns.

Nelly was charged with felony possession of drugs, simple possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, the department said. One other man traveling in the coach was also arrested and charged.

In 2012 authorities discovered marijuana, heroin and a loaded gun on the rapper's tour bus at a Border Patrol checkpoint in West Texas. A member of the singer's entourage took responsibility for the items and was arrested. Others on the bus including Nelly were released.

Nelly, 40, whose real name is Cornell Haynes, has performed in several movies and was named by Billboard magazine in 2009 as one of the top artists of the decade.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com