5 men nabbed in QC drug bust

Five men were arrested in a drug raid at a mosque in Quezon City around Thursday midnight, but not before they wounded two of the arresting officers, according to a police report.

The Anti-Illegal Drugs Unit swooped down on the mosque on Cadena de Amor, Barangay Central, following tips from two drug suspects arrested in a previous operation, the report said.

The report identified those arrested as Honey Boy Alejandro, 29; Eddie Santos, 29; Jamal Abdul Lumambas, 32; all residents of the area, along with Esmael Maulana, 43, of Baseco Compound in Manila and Christian Paul Desuyo, 18, of Barangay Pinyahan in Quezon City.

The report from QCPD-PS 10 commander Police Supt. Crisostomo Mendoza said the suspects began firing at the policemen as they approached the mosque.

Senior Police Officer 2 Nilbert Forlucas sustained a gunshot wound on his torso, while Police Officer 1 Teodorico Casison suffered a gunshot wound in the leg.

The unit then called for back-up from the Kamuning Station and the QCPD SWAT team, who rushed the wounded to the East Avenue Medical Hospital where they remain confined.

Seven heat-sealed and two open-sealed transparent plastic sachets containing white crystalline granules suspected to be shabu, two strips of aluminum foil with traces of the suspected drug and two disposable lighters were recovered from the suspects.

Still at large are two men only identified as “Lito” and “Ustadz.” The raiding team said they discovered what they described as “secret passageways” in the mosque believed to have been used by the suspects to escape from their pursuers.