Millions of pesos worth of party drugs were discovered in the Paranaque City condominium unit of an arrested Vietnamese national, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Friday, July 26.
NBI Director Jaime B. Santiago said operatives of the NBI Dangerous Drugs Division (NBI-DDD) discovered last July 19 the narcotics stashed inside the condominium unit of Van Thai Nguyen during the service of a search warrant.
In a statement, the NBI said: "Hundreds of Ecstasy tablets and several grams of ketamine were found in the living room and bedroom, together with boxes of teddy bears in various sizes intended to be used in hiding the drugs, which will be delivered to Subject’s clients via transport network vehicle service.”
“Also recovered from the condominium unit were weighing scales, bundles of cash, and plastic sachets,” it said.
It explained that ketamine is a popular party drug which is abused for its dissociative sensations and hallucinogenic effects, and is also used to facilitate sexual assault.
It said "a tablet of ecstasy is worth P2,000 while ketamine is P12,000 per gram.”
It also said that the NBI-DDD operatives arrested Nguyen last July 10 during an entrapment operation in Paranaque City where he was caught in possession of ketamine and ecstasy worth P20,000.
“Nguyen was charged with violation of Section 5 of RA No. 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) before the City Prosecutor of Paranaque City. Additional charges will be filed against him including violation of Section 11 of RA No. 9165, Falsification of Documents, and RA No. 6085 (Illegal Use of Aliases),” the NBI said.
The NBI recalled that its law enforcement agents have been hunting down Nguyen after he left inside a taxicab his Louis Vuitton bag on Dec. 7, 2023. year.
The bag was turned over by the taxi driver to Sen. Raffy Tulfo and was found to contain illegal drugs, cash, and identification cards of the Vietnamese, it said.