Crystal methamphetamine, known in the Philippines as “shabu,” contained in plastic sachets. | (INQUIRER.net stock photo)
LUCENA CITY – Police anti-narcotics operatives arrested an armed “high-value” target and seized P646,000 worth of shabu (crystal meth) and an illegal firearm during a buy-bust operation in this city on Sunday, Jan. 8.
In a report on Monday, Col. Ledon Monte, Quezon police chief, said members of the Quezon drug enforcement/intelligence unit and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency operatives nabbed Lemuel Mellomida after he allegedly sold P12,000 worth of shabu to a poseur buyer in Barangay Dalahican at 11:37 p.m.
The suspect yielded three more sachets of meth weighing 95 grams and an undocumented .45-caliber pistol with four bullets.
Police said the confiscated shabu had an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value of P646,000 and was worth P1,938,000 in the street market based on the prevailing price of P20,400 per gram.
The report classified Mellomida as a “high-value” target in the local drug scene.
Police also confiscated a motorcycle believed to have been used by the suspect in his illegal drug trade.
Authorities were investigating the source of the drugs.
Meanwhile, policemen in Binangonan town, Rizal province arrested two suspected drug pushers in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Darangan around 11:30 p.m., also on Sunday.
The suspects, Darius Leal and John Vincent Lahara, all identified as illegal drug peddlers in the locality, were caught in alleged possession of seven sachets of meth with a DDB value of P161,160.
All suspects were detained at the local police jails and are facing charges of violation of Sections 5 and 11, Article II of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
Mellomida will be slapped with another charge of illegal possession of a firearm. INQ