MANILA, Philippines—Policemen posing as bus passengers arrested a man hiding 40 bricks of dried marijuana bound for New Zealand and Australia the other day in Quezon City.
Cyrus Marngo, 31, was collared with 4.4 kilos of the illegal drug worth around a million pesos.
Cubao police station commander Superintendent Ronnie Montejo said bus marshalls in civilian attire noticed the suspect, a native of Tinglayan, Kalinga, acting somewhat jumpy and nervous.
“Our men who were riding a bus with the suspect decided to trail him when he got off in Cubao,” Montejo said.
Marngo was arrested on Thursday at around 11:15 a.m. at the entrance of the Araneta Bus Terminal where he was supposed to board a Visayas-bound bus.
Quezon City Police District director Senior Superintendent Richard Albano said the contraband, hidden in a backpack, was to be transported to New Zealand and Australia via transshipment point in Bohol.
“The suspect was just tasked to transport the marijuana from Kalinga to Bohol, which would be the jump-off point for transporting it abroad,” Albano said.
He said the suspect claimed to have no idea of who else was involved in the operation as he only transported the contraband to the Visayas port.
Two bus marshalls of the Cubao police station, PO3 Victor Sia and PO1 Alrashid Albain, were aboard a south-bound Dagupan Bus Liner when Marngo boarded the vehicle on EDSA near Kamuning.
Montejo said his men noticed that the suspect appeared edgy, arousing their suspicions.
The bus marshalls stayed with him until Cubao, where he got off and walked to the bus terminal to board an Eagles provincial bus.
The operatives coordinated with a bag checker at the terminal and an inspection of the bags contents revealed the contraband, Montejo said, adding that further test at the QCPD crime lab confirmed it was marijuana.
The suspect was to be charged with drug possession under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, Montejo said.