Embassy bar guard nabs med student carrying marijuana

A medical student of De La Salle University was arrested after he was caught carrying a packet of marijuana as he tried to enter a popular bar in Taguig City Saturday night, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) reported yesterday.

PDEA spokesman Derrick Arnold Carreon identified the suspect as Greg Michael Teo, 20, of Dasmariñas, Cavite.

Teo was initially apprehended by security personnel of the Embassy Super Club in Taguig City at around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday before he was turned over to the PDEA, Carreon said.

“A security personnel was conducting routine check on customers entering the bar. It was just routine frisking of the customers when the security personnel found a packet of marijuana in his (Teo’s) possession,” Carreon told The STAR in an interview.

He said Teo, a first-year medical student at DLSU, was carrying 5.02 grams of marijuana. “It’s a considerable amount that is good enough to be shared with others,” Carreon said.

He said Teo will undergo inquest proceedings today at the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office for violating Section 11, Article 2 of Republic Act 9165, the country’s anti-drugs law.

Carreon expressed confidence the case will push through since it could not be argued that the marijuana packet was planted on Teo since it was the bar’s security personnel who apprehended the suspect.

He lauded the management of the Embassy Super Club for “rising to the occasion” and arresting a customer bringing in illegal drugs into its premises.

Carreon urged other bars and similar entertainment establishments in the metropolis to screen those entering their facilities to avoid drug trafficking and drug use in their premises. – Reinir Padua