12 kilos of marijuana seized in Malabon

Police seized at least 12 kilos of dried marijuana leaves from two La Union farmers during a buy-bust operation in Malabon City on Monday night.

Superintendent Moises Guevarra, Malabon police chief, identified the suspects as Frank Camilo, 43, and Rebecca Desa, 47, both of Barangay Bayabas, San Gabriel, La Union.

Northern Police district director Raul Gonzales presented the suspects and the 12 marijuna bricks placed inside a blue traveling bag to the media yesterday.

Gonzales said the haul, valued at some P33,600, was the biggest this year in the northern metropolis.

Senior Inspector Eddie Regalada, chief of Station Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group, said that Camilo and Desa’s arrest was the result of their month-long surveillance on the suspects’ illegal activity.

At around 9 p.m. on Monday, PO3 Jose Estacio, who posed as a buyer, contacted the suspects and they agreed to sell him at least P14,000 worth of marijuana.

They agreed to meet along Rizal Avenue Extension in Barangay San Agustin where SAID-SOTG operatives pounced on the suspects.

According to Camilo, the supply comes from Barangay Kibungan in Benguet where they usually buy the illegal stuff for only P900 per kilo. He said they earn P300 for every kilo sold.

Camilo said that they rode a Dominion bus from La Union and were supposed to drop their "baggage" on Camachili St. in Caloocan City but was instructed by their contact — a certain Juancho — to proceed Malabon City instead.

He added that last August, they also able brought 10 kilos of marijuana to Juancho in Malabon but could not recall the exact place where they delivered the "goods."

Camilo, who has nine children, aged five to 22, said he used to be a farmer (he plants tiger grass, the main material used in making soft broom, in a rented farmland) but bad business and hard times pushed him to sel marijuana, which pays handsomely.

In whispers, though, he said that an unnamed police officer had offered to release him and his companion for P300,000 but said he did not fall for the ruse as he was resigned to his fate.

The Malabon police are now tracking down the suspects’ cohorts using the mobile phone seized from Camilo. — With reports from Jerry Botial