MANILA, Philippines — Authorities seized P54.4 million worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” following the arrest of two “key players” in a “major drug distribution network” supplying illegal drugs from Metro Manila to Mindanao, police said Sunday.
In a statement, the Philippine National Police (PNP) identified the arrested suspects as 32-year-old Marlon Bayan, who hails from Camarines Norte, and 27-year-old Guimalodin Ebrahim from Maguindanao.
The two were nabbed by anti-drug agents in a buy-bust operation at 7 p.m. on Saturday near a mall in Bicutan in Parañaque City, police said.
In a brief for Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, PNP chief Gen. Debold Sinas said the arrested suspects are “known to be regular carriers” of shabu from Manila to Mindanao and “are part of a large group of drug traffickers composed mostly of natives from Mindanao based in Southern Metro Manila.”
“The successful drug bust-bust on Saturday is among the initial salvo of Case Operation Plan (COPLAN) Blood Stone launched by PDEG purposely to break the backbone of this major drug distribution network,” Sinas said in his report to Año.