Drug busts yield P1.2-M shabu

About a kilo of shabu amounting to more that P1.2 million was confiscated by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) from four suspected drug pushers, including a man who claimed to be the son of a military officer, following separate drug busts in Manila and Parañaque City.

PDEA chief Director General Anselmo Avenido identified the suspects as Saidali Radiab alias Rex, 25, of Quirino Avenue, Barangay Tambo, Parañaque; Abdulsatah Abubakar alias Tato, 22, of Area 1, Sultan Ismael Village, Cavite City; Talib Ampuan alias Boy, 34, of Baluyot street, Baclaran, Parañaque and Norie Ampuan, 36, of Dasmariñas, Cavite.

During interrogation, Avenido said Abubakar claimed to be the son of an Army colonel assigned in Fort Bonifacio, Makati City.

The first three suspects were arrested in a buy-bust operation inside a fastfood restaurant at the Isetann Mall, in Plaza Miranda, Quiapo, where agents of the PDEA’s "Team Magellan" seized at least 621.48 grams of shabu worth P650,000.

On the same day, members of the PDEA’s Metro Manila Regional Office led by Chief Inspector Edwin Wagan arrested Norie Ampuan who sold 300 grams of shabu worth P600,000 to a poseur-buyer in front of the Coastal Mall in Parañaque.

The suspects are currently detained at the PDEA headquarters in Camp Crame. Charges of violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 have been filed against them.

Avenido said PDEA has seized P4 billion worth of illegal drugs and raided two big laboratories in Parañaque and Valenzuela.

He said the operations were the result of cooperation between PDEA and other law enforcement agencies. – Christina Mendez