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MANILA, Philippines—Police arrested alleged drug dealers whom they identified as Chinese and seized almost a kilogram of illegal drugs worth P4 million in a police surveillance operation in Mandaluyong City on Tuesday night that nearly went awry.
The arrest of the Chinese nationals, identified as Wa Fan Hoi, 36, and Yu Cao, 34, who are both natives of Fujian, China, happened 10 days after two compatriots were caught with shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride worth P1.5 million in Pasig City.
Senior Inspector Virgilio Santiago, head of the Eastern Police District’s anti-illegal drugs, said the Chinese men tried to call off the transaction in front of a fast food chain at the corner of Florida and Connecticut Streets in Barangay (village) Wack-Wack, Mandaluyong City.
A policeman posing as buyer was supposed to buy P15,000 worth of drugs from the Chinese men at 7 p.m. on Tuesday but they sensed that they were dealing with anti-narcotics agents.
“We were not about to arrest them at that time since we were still building up the case and we had been monitoring them only since last week. We were still planning to test the substance,” he said.
But to prevent the alleged drug dealers from escaping, the team proceeded to arrest them.
The police then searched the vehicles of the two, a silver gray Toyota Altis (ZGS-384) and a white Toyota Grandia (XFP-357, and found 800 grams of a white crystalline substance believed to be shabu.
The police on Wednesday charged the Chinese with violating RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 at the prosecutor’s office.
Asked if the two Chinese nationals belonged to the group of the other Chinese arrested last week, Santiago said the matter was still under investigation.
“We are still in the process of knowing the levels of their involvement in the drugs trade,” Santiago said.