PDEA official, 2 agents arrested in Taguig HQ for selling ‘shabu’
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MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) official and two government antinarcotics agents were caught in a drug bust right at their headquarters in Taguig City on Tuesday.
Operatives under the National Capital Region Police Office Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (NCRPO-RDEU) arrested Enrique Lucero, chief of the PDEA Southern District Office (SDO), inside the unit’s headquarters in Barangay Upper Bicutan around 9 p.m. Also arrested were agents Anthony Vic Alabastro and Jaireh Llaguno, and their driver Mark Warren Mallo. They did not answer queries from reporters.
Found in their possession were three small sachets of “shabu” (crystal meth) weighing 100 grams and another plastic bag containing 1.25 kilos of shabu with a total street value of P9.18 million, including a digital weighing scale, four service rifles and four pistols.
Investigation
The suspects are under the custody of NCRPO-RDEU in Camp Bagong Diwa, pending the filing of complaints for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 before the Taguig City prosecutor’s office.
PDEA Director General Moro Virgilio Lazo said he was disappointed by the involvement of his agency’s personnel in the illicit trade that they were fighting.
Article continues after this advertisement“Our first step was to coordinate with the PNP to help in our campaign against illegal drugs. We agreed that there will be no sacred cows,” he said.
Article continues after this advertisementIn a telephone interview, Brig. Gen. Kirby John Kraft, Southern Police District director, said he and Lazo approved the operation after a tip-off that shabu is being sold at the PDEA SDO headquarters.
He declined to disclose other details of the operation, as they were conducting follow-up operations “that would lead us to the source, customers and distributors of the illegal drugs.”
A PDEA statement on Wednesday said it was “doing an internal investigation to get to the bottom of the case and determine the ones culpable.”
Lucero has been serving the PDEA since 2008, rising from the ranks to Investigating Agent V before he was appointed PDEA SDO chief in 2021.
He was also active in anti-drug operations and community engagement in southern Metro Manila.
