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LUCENA CITY – Authorities arrested an alleged “big-time” drug trafficker in a buy-bust operation in Binangonan town in Rizal province on Thursday, July 14, and seized over P2.3 million worth of shabu (crystal meth).
Several other drug suspects were arrested and drugs seized in Cavite and Batangas busts.
The Police Regional Office 4-A said in an initial report that Edmar Nieto Rex was collared at 12:10 a.m. after he allegedly sold P1,000 worth of shabu to an undercover police officer acting as a drug user in Barangay Darangan.
Seized from the suspect were four sealed plastic sachets and four knot-tied ice plastic bags containing shabu weighing 350 grams with estimated Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P2,380,000.
Police were tracking the source of the illegal drugs.
Rex is under police custody and faces charges of violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Cavite
In Cavite province, police arrested on Wednesday three drug suspects and seized P241,000 worth of shabu in buy-bust operations.
The regional police reported Thursday that local police drug enforcers in Dasmariñas City busted at 4:20 p.m. Michael Candido and Jerus Banawa in Barangay Fatima I.
The suspects yielded seven sachets of meth weighing 30 grams with a DDB value of about P207,000.
In Bacoor City, anti-narcotics agents arrested Alex Salcedo in another drug sting around 9 p.m. in Zapote 4 village. Seized from the suspect were two sachets of shabu with a DDB value of P34,000.
The suspects are under police custody and face charges of violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Batangas
A suspected drug pusher was wounded in an alleged encounter with police in a buy-bust operation on Wednesday night in San Juan town in Batangas province
The Batangas police said in a report that an undercover cop acting as a drug user was transacting around 8:30 p.m. with suspected shabu peddlers, Mark Kevin Cueto, 28, and his twin brother Mark Anthony in Barangay Buhay Na Sapa.
The report said Mark Anthony sensed that he was dealing with an undercover cop, pulled out a caliber .38 gun, and shot at the police agent, but missed his target.
The police returned fire and hit the shooter on his right thigh. Both suspects immediately surrendered.
Mark Anthony was taken to the San Juan District Hospital for treatment.
Authorities seized a plastic sachet of shabu and the gun loaded with five bullets. The report did not provide the total volume of confiscated illegal drugs and their estimated street value.
The brothers face charges of violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Mark Anthony will also be slapped with cases for illegal possession of a firearm and attempted homicide.