AN alleged big-time Chinese drug lord was killed on Friday during a police raid on a clandestine drug laboratory in Valenzuela City, making him the first casualty among the high-value targets (HVTs) in the intensified campaign against illegal drugs.
Meco Tan was killed after he allegedly shot it out with members of the raiding teams from the police Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG), the Highway Patrol Group (HPG), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Northern Police District (NPD).
Five other suspects, all of them Chinese, were arrested during the raid that was carried out at around 4 a.m. on what is known as a plastics factory but actually a laboratory producting methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, at barangay Lingunan, Valenzuela City.
Director General Ronald M. dela Rosa, National Police chief, personally went to the site and inspected the compound. He vowed that Tan would not be the last big-time drug lord to fall from the campaign against illegal drugs.
Chief Insp. Kimberly Molitas, Metro Manila police command spokesman, said Tan was an HVT and had been in two clandestine shabu laboratories that were discovered by law-enforcement agencies during the past years.
“He was involved in the clandestine laboratory operation in Naic, Cavite, some time in 2003 with Jackson Dy, where, more or less, 600 kilograms of shabu were confiscated. He was also involved in the clandestine laboratory operation in Scout Chuatoco in Quezon City, where more than 70 kg of shabu and 3,500 kg of ephedrine were confiscated,” Molitas said of Tan.
“However subject always eluded arrest and continue with his nefarious activities until his death after he traded shots with the combined elements of PDEA-Special Enforcement Service, AIDG, HPG, Valenzuela City police and NPD,” she added.
Meanwhile, the National Police warned “nonperforming” police commanders to perform in the anti-illegal drugs campaign in the next three weeks or face removal from their posts.
Chief Supt. Camilo Pancratius Cascolan, the force’s director for operations, said chiefs of police and provincial directors in Regions 2 and 4A, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) must work harder or they will be replaced.
“We will be coming out with our evaluation today for the past three weeks and we will warn them that they have to intensely double their efforts to catch up,” Cascolan said.
“In a span of six weeks, many chiefs of police and provincial directors who are not performing well would be relieved. That goes also for deputy regional directors for operations because they are the vice chairmen of ‘Double Barrel’ in their respective regions,” he added.
Cascolan said that, based on the data gathered by the National Police general headquarters at Camp Rafael Crame in Quezon City, Regions 2 and 4A, and ARMM conducted less than 1,000 house visitations and registered a low number of arrested peddlers of illegal drugs.
“We will ask them [commanders] about the drive in their areas…why was it low? Together with that, we will try to see the peculiarity of each area,” Cascolan said, citing that in ARMM it is understood that house visitation or Oplan Tukhang is low, owing to the security situation in the region.
Cascolan said the ax will initially fall on nonperforming chiefs of police, provincial directors and deputy regional directors for operations soon. On the other hand, regional directors will be evaluated after three months.
Cascolan said that, as of 6 a.m. on Friday, a total of 239 persons have been killed since the intensified antidrug campaign was launched on July 1.
Of the number, 212 were killed during police operations, while the others were summarily executed by unknown perpetrators.
“We don’t just hit them if they do not fight us,” he added.
Cascolan said a total of 109,054 drug users have voluntarily yielded, while 2,994 were arrested and 711 pushers gave themselves up to police.