Two ranking police officials were put under investigation following the arrest of two police anti-narcotics operatives and the seizure of nearly a ton of shabu in Manila early this month, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., said on Monday.

Azurin, however, stressed there are still no pieces of evidence that would link them to the Manila operation wherein 990 kilos of shabu were seized.

The names of two police generals had surfaced over their alleged link to the police sergeant who owns the lending agency where the 990 kilos of shabu were seized.

The PNP chief confirmed that one of the two officials under probe has the rank of a police general.

"They are on floating status. But this is unfair to them because their names are being dragged into this although there are no sufficient pieces of evidence so far," Azurin told reporters at Camp Crame.

"These officers have careers, they worked hard for their careers and that is why we are very careful, we are not mentioning names," he added.

Meanwhile, two police sergeants assigned to the PNP Drug Enforcement Group of the reportedly sneaked out more or less 42 kilos of shabu, worth P285.6 million.

The 42 kilos were part of the 990 kilos of shabu earlier seized in Manila.

The theft was discovered by PDEG director Brig. Gen. Narciso Domingo after a review of the closed-circuit TV footage before and after the 8 October raid at the Wealth and Personal Development Lending Inc. in Sta. Cruz, Manila owned by Master Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr.

An intelligence officer of the PDEG, Mayo was arrested after he yielded at least two kilos of shabu inside his car in a follow-up operation in Quiapo, Manila early morning of 9 October.

In the CCTV footage, a man was seen going out of the lending agency office and was later seen loading the two bags inside a car.

When one of the police sergeants was asked to shed light on the incident, the cop admitted that there were 30 kilos of shabu still in their possession and that the car is owned by another PDEG operative.

When the other PDEG operative was asked to appear before the PDEG headquarters, he informed his superior instead that he would just leave the illegal drugs near Camp Crame in Quezon City.

During the inspection, it was found that there were 42 kilos left by the PDEG operative. Forty-two kilos of shabu has a street value of P285.6 million.

"There is an ongoing investigation and as I have said, all those involved, all those whose names would surface in the conduct of the investigation will be held accountable in order to put a stop on the issue of recycling (of illegal drugs)," Azurin said.

After the seizure of the illegal drugs on 8 October, the PNP released a statement that it would request the proper court for the immediate destruction of the confiscated illegal drugs in order to prevent any attempt at recycling.