Chinese woman hunted over P6.18 billion shabu

March 14, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — A manhunt has been launched for a Chinese woman tagged in the smuggling of shabu with an estimated street value of P6.18 billion, which was found in the town of Paluan in Occidental Mindoro this week.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said yesterday that police have identified the woman, but withheld the information so as not to compromise the manhunt.

Police expressed belief that the woman was responsible for the entry of up to 906 kilos of shabu that were seized in separate occasions in Barangay Harrison earlier this week.

On Monday, members of the Philippine Army discovered 876 kilos of shabu with an estimated street alue of P5.9 billion in a speedboat that ran aground in the area.

The illegal drugs were stashed in 43 sacks.

Based on the markings on the sacks, Remulla said the illegal drugs may have been manufactured in Vietnam.

On Wednesday, another 30 kilos of shabu with an estimated street value of P204 million were found floating off the coast of the village.

On the same day, police arrested two Chinese men –identified as Zhan Xing Xing, 38, and Bin Shi, 36 – who allegedly operated the boat.

The suspects were the same men who were seen running away when Army soldiers arrived to inspect the boat on Monday.

At a briefing in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, Remulla described the Chinese woman to be in her 30s.

The woman reportedly purchased the speedboat from a private company at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in Zambales.

Remulla said that in Noember, the woman leased a house in Batangas, where the Chinese men stayed when they arrived in the country on March 5.

The woman reportedly hired two Filipino boatmen to rescue her compatriots after the speedboat ran aground.

The boatmen were arrested on Wednesday night while on their way to Barangay Harrison in a rubber boat.

“We will file a case of conspiracy against the suspects based on the pieces of evidence that police have collected,” Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director general Isagani Nerez said at the same press briefing.

Remulla said the woman is a major player in the smuggling of shabu.

“She was the one who rented the house and purchased the speedboat and the rubber boat,” Nerez said.

Noting the massive volume of shabu seized in Occidental Mindoro, Remulla said the suspects could be members of a Chinese-run drug ring.

He said that international drug syndicates usually transport around a ton of shabu in a single shipment and there could be about 100 kilos of illegal substance floating in the waters off Mindoro. — Ed Amoroso

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