NPD nabs 2 drug pushers

The Northern Police District (NPD) arrested two suspected pushers in separate operations in Caloocan City and Navotas Friday.

Chief Inspector Bartolome “Bong” Tarnate, NPD anti-illegal drugs special operations task group chief, identified the suspects as Abdul “Don” Carim Macabanding, 28, a resident of Quiapo, Manila; and Marvin de la Cruz, 36, a resident of Barangay Tanong, Malabon City.

De la Cruz, a tricycle driver, was arrested at around 2:30 a.m. on F. Pascual street in Barangay Tangos, Navotas City.

The anti-narcotics police officers, led by Senior Police Officer 1 Brigido Cardino, seized a sachet of shabu from De la Cruz.

At around 7 p.m., Tarnate received information that another suspected pusher, identified only as Don, was seen near a hotel on Samson Road in Caloocan City.

Tarnate’s men went to the area to verify the report and chanced upon Macabanding in front of the Nice Hotel in Monumento. He yielded three plastic sachets of shabu.

NPD crime lab personnel Senior Inspectors Stella Ebuen and Albert Arturo confirmed that sachets seized from the suspects contained shabu.

Charges were immediately filed against Macabanding and De la Cruz, who are still detained at the NPD anti-illegal drugs unit detention cell.

The Caloocan City and Navotas prosecutors recommended P200,000 bail for each of the suspects.

Tarnate said that because of the scarcity of shabu in the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela) area, the street value of a five-gram sachet could reach up to P25,000.  – Pete Laude