AS part of their continuing joint effort to smash secret drug laboratories and storage facilities in Metro Manila and other parts of the country, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force are offering valuable tips on how to spot an illegal drug lab or a home-made laboratory where millions or even billions of pesos worth of amphetamines are being ‘cooked’

PDEA chair Undersecretary Jose S. Gutierrez Jr. said the following tips can be used by the public in identifying secret drug factories where shabu, Ketamine and other dangerous drugs are locally manufactured.

Once a clan lab is spotted, Gutierrez said an individual can join the PDEA “Operation: Private Eye” which is a reward and incentive scheme designed to encourage private citizens to report to PDEA any suspected illegal drug activities particularly the presence of clan labs and so-called shabu ‘tiyangges’ in their community.

Gutierrez has ordered stepped-up operations to identify and smash clan labs in order to disrupt the production and distribution of the so-called ‘poor man’s cocaine’ in the country, mostly involving Chinese drug lords following the discovery of three secret shabu laboratories inside the posh Ayala Alabang village in Muntinlupa City.

Citing their own personal experiences and lectures from their foreign counterparts including those from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, veteran PDEA and PNP-AIDSOTF officials said people can detect the presence of clan labs from the outside by using their senses and their curiosity.

From the outside, people can smell chemical smells coming from a clan lab, mostly built up inside a big compound with tall gates to block easy viewing. Agents who have joined major operations that led to the smashing of major shabu factories in the country including those in Antipolo City, Laguna and Lipa City in Batangas said people have complained of unusual odor coming from the raided compounds.

The smells have been described as either sweet, bitter, ammonia or solvent smells with the exhaust fans running at odd times.

In most of the cases, authorities have discovered lots of garbage including empty bottles and plastics containing chemical, chemical boxes and even anti-cold medicines inside and outside the raided compounds. Laboratory glassware including baking dishes and hotplates near chemicals as well as equipment and documents were also found in most of the raided drug factories.

Agents also learned from local residents that ‘strangers,’ usually Chinese-looking frequently visited the compounds at odd times, mostly at night.

What attracted the curiosity of the people and law enforcers more is the presence of drawn heavy curtains that covered the windows of the house. The people inside the compound are also unfriendly to their neighbors to the point that they have become paranoid or displaying odd behaviors.

Majority of clan labs smashed by the PDEA and the PNP-AIDSOTF in the past were equipped with closed-circuit television cameras and other surveillance gears. The compounds are closed to unauthorized persons, even landlords.

People inside those compounds were also seen coming outside only to smoke cigarettes, apparently to relax their bodies after inhaling fumes inside.

Officials stressed that clan labs are never safe, thus, the need for people who accidentally discovers its presence to immediately leave the site and avoid smelling, touching or worst, tasting any of the chemicals.

Others might think that a PDEA or a PNP agent’s life is not in danger when he or she participates in a secret drug lab raid but that’s the contrary.

First, the officer’s health is placed in peril since he or she, if not wearing the proper protective suit and face covers, might go ill or even catch a chemical-induced life-threatening disease in the near future. Experts say that exposure to chemicals inside a clan lab can result in headaches, nausea, watery or burning eyes, skin burns, vertigo, convulsions, heavy coughing and choking and major breathing difficulties.

Apart from the presence of drug manufacturers who may be well-armed and might offer resistance, there is also the possibility that a chemical reaction in the secret clan lab or even the turning on or off of any electrical devices such as lights or an electric fan or even the use of tools, radios and mobile phone could trigger sparks or friction that can cause a deadly fire or an explosion.

Chemicals inside clan labs can either be explosive, flammable, corrosive and toxic. Previous raids showed that these chemicals can spark fire, burn skin or even destroy eyesight and poison human, animals and plants and trees.