LUCENA CITY – Law enforcers arrested eight alleged big-time drug traffickers on Friday and Saturday (October 6 and 7) and seized P1,476,000 worth of marijuana and shabu (crystal meth) in separate operations in Laguna and Rizal provinces.
The Region 4A police reported that the anti-narcotics operatives in San Pedro City, Laguna nabbed Kim Vladimir Que inside a branch of a courier company in Barangay (village) Langgam at around 5:15 p.m. on Friday while in the act of transacting for the delivery of a box which contained dried marijuana leaves.
On October 5, the company employees informed the barangay chairman of a suspicious box from Que which was also for delivery and turned out containing marijuana.
The village official alerted the local police and set up an entrapment operation that resulted in the arrest of the suspect, who was tagged as a “high-value” target in the government drug war.
The authorities seized a total of 5.5 kilos of marijuana with an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P660,000.
The report did not provide information on the intended recipient of the illegal cargo.
Meanwhile, in Nagcarlan town, local drug enforcers also collared Abner Ortiaga, another “high-value” target, in a buy-bust operation around 8:27 p.m. also on Friday in Barangay Santa Lucia.
Authorities seized four sachets of shabu weighing 55 grams with a DDB of P374,000 and a mobile phone containing a list of his supposed drug transactions.
Police in Sta. Rosa City busted Isabel Enriquez, Jaime Taygon and Oliver Deluria in a sting operation inside a subdivision in Barangay Tagapo at around 11:05 p.m.
The operatives seized from the suspects 10 sachets of meth worth P157,000 as per DDB valuation.
Meanwhile, the members of the police drug enforcement unit in San Mateo town in Rizal province collared Ma. Danilyn Melchor, Ma. Angelica Melchor and Rommel Miclat Jr. at around 2:07 a.m. Saturday during a drug buy-bust operation in Barangay Gulod Malaya.
The three, all classified as “high-value” targets, yielded 15 sachets of shabu with an estimated DDB value of P285,736, a digital weighing scale and drug-pushing paraphernalia.
The police also confiscated two mobile phones from the suspects which will be subjected to digital forensic examinations if they have records of drug transactions.
The operatives also arrested Raquel Pineda II, Eduardo Manabo and Simona Melchor, after they tried to stop the operatives from conducting the inventory of the seized illegal drugs.
Authorities in Laguna and Rizal were tracking the source of the illegal drugs.
All arrested suspects were detained and are facing the corresponding criminal charges.