Vietnamese caught selling party drugs in stuffed toys

MANILA, Philippines — A Vietnamese man has been arrested for allegedly selling party drugs hidden in stuffed toys to his clients, most of them foreigners, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said yesterday.

NBI Director Jaime Santiago said Van Thai Nguyen was caught in a sting on July 10 by the NBI’s Dangerous Drugs Division.

Fifty-three ecstasy tablets, 14 grams of ketamine and boxes of stuffed toys were recovered during a search of Nguyen’s rented condominium unit on July 19, according to the Philippine News Agency.

The Parañaque Regional Trial Court Branch 260 issued a warrant for the search.

The party drugs had a total street value of P274,000. Santiago said an ecstasy tablet is valued at P2,000 while a gram of ketamine has a street value of P12,000.

Documents found in the condominium unit, which appeared to be falsified, indicated that Nguyen – whose aliases include Van Vinh Nguyen and Van Quan Nguyen – held a 9G working visa valid until 2026, according to his Alien Certificate of Registration.

Weighing scales, bundles of cash and plastic sachets were also recovered from the unit.

Nguyen was also identified as the person who allegedly left a Louis Vuitton bag containing illegal drugs, cash and identification cards in a taxi. 

Nguyen was charged with falsification of documents as well as violating Republic Act 9165, the law on illegal drugs, and RA 6085, which penalizes the illegal use of aliases.