Couple, teenage courier caught with P5.4M worth of drugs

MANILA, Philippines — A couple and their teenage courier yielded P5.4 million worth of suspected “shabu” (crystal meth) on Tuesday after a buy-bust operation in Mandaluyong City.

According to a report by the Mandaluyong police’s Drug Enforcement Unit, 800 grams of shabu were seized from Suraida Samad, 43, and her husband, Joel Sumlay, 46, both residents of Barangay Lower Bicutan in Taguig City.

During the entrapment operation conducted in Barangay Addition Hills, the police initially dealt with the couple’s 17-year-old relative who served as a courier.

He later led authorities to the couple who were waiting nearby.

The report said the suspects yielded a big transparent heat-sealed plastic bag, 10 medium-sized transparent plastic sachets and a weighing scale.

Col. Remigio Sedanto, acting Mandaluyong police chief, said they were verifying information the couple had connections to drug dealers or syndicates in Taguig City.

Officials had received tips about the couple from previous suspects arrested in other buy-bust operations, Sedanto added. —Matthew Reysio-Cruz