Case Operation Plan ATHENA (OPLAN ATHENA) was one of the Philippine National Police's (PNP) main thrusts against the Chinese Triad's big time drug trafficking operations. Its mission was to neutralize a known Chinese Triad cell operating in Binondo, Manila.
Oplan ATHENA was developed sometime on January 1998 based on information gathered by the PNP Narcotics Group (NARGROUP) from an active member of a Manila-based Chinese drug group.
OPLAN ATHENA was implemented for the period of February 15 to May 7, 1998. Its area of operations covered the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Mainland China.
One of the Triad's bosses was identified as Wang Ly-Zhang a.k.a. David Ong and a.k.a. Stephen, a Chinese National. He was in charge of the group's drug shipment into the Philippines.
Case Operation Plan Athena's main objective was to neutralize the group members of Wang Ly-Zhang. It was especially designed by utilizing a Filipina-Chinese police informant as a paid government "Action Agent." She was code named "Rosebud".
A copy of the Oplan was submitted to the PNP Headquarters for appropriate approval and funding and Oplan Athena was implemented on February 15, 1998.
Initially, the Case Officers and "Rosebud" contacted Wang Ly-Zhang in Hong Kong, and arranged for a shabu shipment. Wang agreed and informed "Rosebud" that he would arrange for its shipment directly from his source somewhere in Mainland China.
On May 1, 1998, the Chinese Triad contacted "Rosebud" and pressed to set the delivery of the shabu shipment. After evaluating the information, Police Chief Superintendent Reynaldo M. Acop gave the go-signal on May 3, 1998 to implement the buy-bust phase of Oplan Athena.
At
round 2:15 of May 7, 1998, during a buy-bust operation of Oplan Athena in San
Juan, Metro Manila, a shootout ensued between the Wang's group and the NARGROUP
operatives. Wang got badly wounded during the shootout and was rushed to the
Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center for medical treatment. Unfortunately,
he could not be saved. Dr. John Guiang declared Wang dead at 3:45 am.
11 kilograms of shabu was seized during the operation.
Case Operation Plan CYCLOPS (Oplan CYCLOPS) was the PNP's thrust in identifying major drug pipelines of Methamphetamine Hydrochloride (Shabu) from the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the Philippines by the Chinese organized crime syndicates.
Oplan CYCLOPS involved the international cooperation of five (5) police agencies, namely: the Philippine National Police, Hong Kong Police Narcotics Bureau, United States Drug Enforcement Administration, Australian Federal Police, and the Macau Judiciary Police.
The 5 agencies agreed to unite and cooperate with each other in their fight against illegal drugs. During their meetings, they laid the guidelines on the following topics: Intelligence - specifically on sharing intelligence holdings; Operations - on the particulars of each one's jurisdiction in the conduct of operations; Logistics; and Reward of Informant and Asset Retrieval, where three foreign jurisdictions discussed the sharing of retrieved assets.
As a result, the Philippine National Police was able to gain the respect and cooperation of other foreign police agencies. It also earned international acclaim for bringing the global police community together in thwarting the threat of the drug menace posed by the Chinese Triads.
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