Anti-narcotics operatives seized around aP142.8 million worth of shabu on Wednesday, March 11, following the arrest of two alleged drug personalities during a buy bust operation in Quezon City, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) stated.
In a statement, the PDEA said that motorcycle taxi drivers “Rolando,’’ 42 and “Eli,’’ 28 were collared at around 3:10 a.m. on Biak na Bato Street in Barangay Santo Domingo by the PDEA Special Enforcement Service (SES), PDEA Regional Office-National Capital Region (RO-NCR) Quezon City District Office and Philippine National Police (PNP) Drug Enforcement Group Special Operations Unit- NCR after the entrapment operation was consummated.
During the operation, the PDEA said that the confiscated estimated 21 kilograms of shabu was packed in plastic containers, indicating a large-scale trafficking operation that could have supplied substantial quantities of illegal drugs into communities in Metro Manila and nearby regions.
The suspects were caught red-handed selling 500 grams of the prohibited substance to an undercover agent posing as a buyer with the subsequent search of their vehicle and belongings led to the discovery of an additional 20.5 kilograms of shabu.
Aside from shabu, authorities also confiscated the buy-bust money, a Toyota Hiace Grandia, assorted identification cards, mobile phones and a digital weighing scale during the search.
The suspects face charges for violation of Section 5 (Sale of Dangerous Drugs) and Section 11 (Possession of Dangerous Drugs) in relation to Section 26 (Conspiracy to Sell), Article II of Republic Act (RA) 9165 or “The Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.’’