5 shabu, marijuana pushers nabbed in Quezon drug busts

LUCENA CITY, Philippines – Police arrested five suspected pushers of shabu (crystal meth) and marijuana in separate buy-bust operations in Lucena City and Tayabas City in Quezon province on Thursday, police said.

Lt. Colonel Romulo Albacea, city police chief, said suspects Roy Joseph Almagro and Alan Louie Magpayo were nabbed by anti-illegal drug operatives after allegedly selling shabu to an undercover police officer in Barangay (village) Gulang-Gulang in Lucena City around 10 p.m.

Police seized from the suspects eight plastic sachets of shabu weighing 1.4 grams worth P7,770 in the street market.

Earlier, Stephen Rene Sarmiento, a security guard, was also nabbed in another drug sting in Barangay Ibabang Dupay around 10:55 a.m.

Sarmiento, included in the police list of notorious drug pushers, yielded nine plastic sachets of shabu weighing 2.4 grams worth P13,320.

In Tayabas City, policemen arrested Renz Ramirez and Aerhon Michael Reyes, after they allegedly sold marijuana to an undercover police officer inside a middle-class subdivision Barangay Isabang at around 4:10 p.m., Colonel Audie Madrideo, Quezon police chief, said in a separate report.

Police confiscated from the suspects nine plastic sachets of marijuana weighing 54.8 grams, with a street value of P19,700.

According to police, the suspects are major suppliers of marijuana to students, tricycle drivers and out-of-school youth in the subdivision and in nearby areas.

Edited by MUF