Philippines police find half-tonne of drugs hidden in tea bags

The haul could be worth up to $74 million

Tea bags containing suspected methamphetamine were found during a raid at a house in Baguio city, northern Philippines. AP

More than half a tonne of suspected methamphetamine hidden in tea bags has been recovered by police in the Philippines.

The drugs were on Wednesday recovered in a raid in the northern Baguio city, and have an estimated value of 4 billion pesos ($74 million), one of the largest hauls in recent years. A suspected Chinese drug dealer was arrested as part of the operation, police said.

A drug syndicate apparently hid the suspected drugs in Baguio, a popular tourist destination known for its mountain scenery and pine trees, and not in metropolitan Manila due to an ongoing anti-drugs crackdown in the capital region, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and police officials said.

The tea was marked with Chinese lettering at a rented warehouse in the city and police are examining a vehicle used to move the drugs.

It comes a month after a large-scale raid in the city in which three dealers were arrested.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who took office in June, has vowed to press on with his predecessor's crackdown on illegal drugs, which left thousands of mostly petty drug suspects dead, but said it would be executed differently, focusing more on rehabilitation.