Millions In Illegal Drugs Seized At Former U.S. Base In Philippines

Manila, Philippines (AHN) - Anti-smuggling authorities in the Philippines on Wednesday seized some 88 kilograms of pure methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu, with an estimated street value of $11.5 million at the former U.S. naval base in Subic Bay Freeport in the central Philippines.

The illegal drugs were suspected to have come from Vietnam and brought into the Philippines by a Filipino-Chinese businessman.

Anthony Villar Jr., chief of the Presidential Anti-Smuggling Group, said the seizure confirms long-time suspicions that Freeport was being used as transshipment point for drug trading.

He told reporters in Manila, "This is 99 percent pure, this is high-grade. If it were recooked and diluted, it can easily fetch half a billion pesos ($11.5 million) in the streets."

His group is now hunting down Anton Ang, a Filipino-Chinese businessman engaged in business at Subic Bay Freeport. The drugs were found in his Mitsubishi Outlander Monday night.

Police became suspicious of Ang when he reportedly brought boxes of "computer parts" into his warehouse when his business was supposed to be the importation of cigarettes and liquor.

"We were inspecting the boxes, but when we opened one, Ang hurriedly ran off," Villar said.

Authorities surrounded Ang's house in an effort to arrest him, but it was already abandoned, Villar said.