Woman held over P13.5 million ecstasy, ketamine

MANILA, Philippines — A 30-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly claiming a package that contained ecstasy tablets and ketamine worth P13.54 million in Pasay City on Friday.

Maritoni Macainan was collared during an interdiction operation at the Central Mail Exchange Center along Domestic Road at around 12:30 p.m., Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) director Brig. Gen. Eleazar Matta said.

The suspect allegedly received a parcel that contained seven cans which were declared as fruit juices.

When anti-narcotics agents opened the cans, they found around 5,033 tablets of the party drug ecstasy and 998 grams of ketamine.

The suspect is facing criminal charges of violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs.

Meanwhile, police confiscated shabu weighing 190 grams and with a street value of P1.29 million in a sting in Taguig City yesterday.

Arrested during the operation was Jessie Christopher Cruz, 40, who is being held on a charge of drug trafficking.

Maj. Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr., National Capital Region Police Office director, said Cruz was apprehended along Lopez Extension at around 8:40 a.m.

Apart from shabu, the suspect was also caught with P40,000 in marked money, which he allegedly accepted from police posing as drug buyers, and a weighing scale.

In Pasay, lawmen seized around 51 grams of shabu valued at P346,800 in Pasig yesterday.

The illegal drugs were found in the possession of Christopher Gonzaga, 38, and Roberto Besmonte, 39, who were caught in a sting in Barangay Pinagbuhatan at around 2:25 a.m.

In Taguig, police confiscated around 190 grams of shabu valued at P1.2 million from a 40-year-old man identified only as Otchok, the Southern Police District said in a report.

The suspect was arrested during a sting in Barangay Wawa at around 8 a.m.