Filipino linked to Chinese drug traders nabbed in Pateros

Suspect Angelo Reyes (right in handcuffs) stands beside Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, NCRPO chief, at the press conference on Tuesday, May 28, 2019. (Photo from the NCRPO Public Information Office)

MANILA, Philippines — Law enforcers arrested on Tuesday a Filipino senior citizen suspected of being involved in the illegal drug trade run by Chinese nationals in the southern part of Metro Manila and in Laguna.

The suspect, 65-year-old Angelo Reyes, was arrested at around 5:30 p.m. in his house in Barangay Sta. Ana in Pateros.

The enforcers seized from his house 1.5 kilograms of crystal meth (locally known as shabu) worth P10.2 million, P1 million in cash, a weighing scale, and empty plastic sachets. They also impounded was a Toyota Altis allegedly used for delivering the drugs.

The operation was conducted by members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-National Capital Region (PDEA-NCR), the National Capital Region Office-Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (NCRPO-DEU), and the Pateros Municipal Police Station.

Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, chief of the NCRPO, said Reyes was included in the drugs watchlist of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“This suspect is in our watchlist and we’re monitoring him because he’s involved in drug transactions,” Eleazar, speaking partly in Filipino, told reporters in a press briefing after the suspect’s arrest in Pateros.

Eleazar said some of the illegal drugs were stuffed in tea packs similar from those seized in PDEA’s anti-drug operations. He said they would coordinate with PDEA to track down other drug suspects.

Eleazar noted that the NCRPO had arrested 79,000 drug suspects in Metro Manila in the last three years.

(Editor: Alexander T. Magno)