INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
LUCENA CITY — Authorities seized on Monday more than P7.6 million worth of “shabu” (crystal meth) from a businessman in this capital city of Quezon province.
Colonel Ledon Monte, Quezon police chief, reported that operatives from the Quezon police drug enforcement unit, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and local cops arrested at 12:24 a.m. Andrian Saludez, 34, after he sold P60,000 worth of meth to a poseur buyer in Barangay Isabang.
The suspect was found carrying three knot-tied plastic and seven sachets of meth weighing 375 grams in a sling bag.
The seized prohibited substance has an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value of P2,550,000.
The report said the drug haul was worth P7,650,000 on the street market at P20,400 per gram.
Police tagged Saludez as a “high-value individual” (HVI) on the local drug scene.
Monte said the operation resulted from a month-long surveillance of Saludez, who is engaged in motorcycle trading.
The lawmen launched the operation after receiving information that Saludez got his fresh supply of meth from his source in Taguig City.
Police were conducting further investigation to identify Saludez’s network of drug pushers and their base of operation.
In another report, Lieutenant Colonel Erickson Roranes, Lucena police chief, reported the arrest Monday morning of Mary Ann Leonora, 32, in a sting operation in Barangay Ibabang Iyam.
Leonora, also tagged as an “HVI” and an alleged drug group leader operating in Quezon, yielded 27 grams of shabu with a DDB value of P183,000.
The seized meth is worth P550,800 in the street market, the report said.
Both suspects were detained at the local police jail and are facing charges of violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. INQ
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