22 arrested, P.6-M shabu seized at QC drug den

MANILA, Philippines - Twenty-two persons, five of them minors, were rounded up during a raid on a house used as a drug and gambling den in Culiat, Quezon City.

Anti-drug police officers also confiscated 100 grams of shabu, which has a street value of P600,000, from the house in the Salaam Mosque compound, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director Senior Superintendent Richard Albano said.

Michelle Ibanez, Ahamad Hadjirul, John Gonzales, Joselito Juan, Richard Elero, Eduardo Antonio, Nestor Arellano, Arsad Dangkahan, Jeremiah Morales, Alden Sapayani, Ibrahim Bahsan, Allen Hadjula, Parsaudy Ismula, Janet Adriano, Jennylyn Manaois, Cynthia Roxas and Analyn Maravilla face charges for violating the country’s laws against illegal drugs and illegal gambling as well as for the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

Policemen recovered during the raid a hand grenade, three pen guns, a weighing scale, six fruit game machines, two video karera machines, car and motorcycle license plates and a sword.

Cramped quarters

Senior Inspector Roberto Razon, head of the QCPD’s anti-drug unit, said they started with Ibanez’s arrest in a drug bust for selling a kilo of shabu.

Police officers then raided the house on Lanao street and caught the suspects sniffing shabu and playing on the game machines, he said.

“It was a cramped space for drug use that was adjacent to another area where the gambling machines were positioned,” Razon said in an interview.

QCPD deputy director for administration Senior Superintendent Joel Pagdilao said the arrested suspects – except for the five children, ranging in age from 14 to 17 – would be subjected to drug testing. The children will be turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

“We are alarmed that there were minors engaged in this,” Albano said.