INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
LUCENA CITY — Police arrested a suspected big-time drug trafficker and seized P3.6 million worth of shabu (crystal meth) in a buy-bust operation on Friday, July 7, in Pagbilao town in Quezon province.
Operatives from the provincial drug enforcement unit, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and local cops arrested at 4:38 p.m. Samuel Marino, 23, after he sold shabu worth P20,000 to a poseur buyer in Barangay Sta. Catalina, Colonel Ledon Monte, Quezon police chief, reported.
Authorities confiscated from Marino shabu weighing 180 grams worth about P1,224,000 and a digital weighing scale.
It is worth P3,627,000 in the street market at the prevailing price of P20,150 per gram, the report said.
Monte said the operatives had been monitoring Marino’s illegal drug activities.
“With his arrest, we were able to save numerous lives from the danger of illegal drugs,” Monte said.
The arrest of Marino, a resident of the locality and classified as a “high-value” target in the government’s war against illegal drugs, was expected to drop the supply of shabu to users in the locality and nearby areas, police said.
The suspect was detained and is facing a charge of violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
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