2 big-time drug suspects caught, thanks to ‘cyberpatrolling’

Two big-time drug suspects were arrested in Pasig City this week after some of their clients—all minors—posted photos on Facebook that showed them smoking marijuana and bragging that the police could not catch them.

The incriminating pictures, however, led the police to Patrick John Magalona, 20 and Anselle Rivera, 25, and the seizure of half a million worth of Mountain Province-grown marijuana, the Eastern Police District (EPD) said on Monday.

The EPD public information officer, PO3 Catherine Deligente, said that relentless “cyberpatrolling” enabled policemen to trace who sold the high-grade drugs to minors, resulting in simultaneous buy-bust operations that led to the arrest of the two suspects on Sunday.

Deligente said Magalona and Rivera headed a network of minors who both used and sold marijuana to their peers. The police were still investigating how long the group had been operating and whether their reach extended outside Pasig.

The Facebook photos, which showed the minors using marijuana, was brought to their attention by a concerned netizen, Deligente said, adding that the owners of these accounts remained under surveillance.