Drug supply in Cebu City: Police find no sign of drug laboratories 

Cebu City, Philippines—With the successive confiscation of illegal drugs from buys-bust operations in Cebu City in recent days, police are puzzled as to why there seems to be an endless supply of it in the city.

Just 26 days after Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan took over as chief of the Cebu City Police Office, the police force has already seized at least P48.5 million worth of illegal drugs from buy-bust operations around the city.

Vinluan said one of the things the police is looking into is the existence of a drug laboratory in the city.

“Kasi ngayon hindi na imposible magkaroon ng laboratory kasi marami ng technology na hindi na naaamoy yung procedure ng paggawa ng shabu,” said Vinluan.

(It’s no longer impossible to have a laboratory, especially when there is the technology that could help conceal the smell of the shabu procedure.)

However, Vinluan said that these are based only on mere speculations as there are still no evidence to prove the existence of a drug lab.

The police chief said most of the drugs confiscated in different anti-drugs operations were traced to have been coming from inside  the Cebu City jail, which is also another area the police are looking to monitor closely.

“As usual, yung bentahan ng shabu ay galing sa jails natin,” Vinluan said, adding that the supply inside the city jail is believed to have come from outside Cebu.

(The selling of drugs come from our jails.)

Police Brigadier General Debold Sinas, meanwhile, in a press briefing on Monday, August 5, 2019, told reporters that the drug laboratory speculation has since been one of the priorities the police are constantly monitoring. 

But so far, the intelligence unit in coordination with Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Central Visayas have not yet found any lead  pointing to the existence of a shabu laboratory. 

But the lack of evidence to prove that there is a shabu laboratory also does not mean that they are dismissing the possibility of its existence.

“Kay matingala man ka bisag halos adlaw-adlaw manakop, naa man gihapon ka dakpan,” said Sinas.

(You really wonder that despite the arrest happening almost every day, there are still those who get arrested.)

Sinas assured the public, though, that the police are in close contact with the sources in  hotspot areas where more drugs were confiscated and are constantly updating for possible reports of drug laboratories. /bmjo