P200 shabu earns him life in prison

Saying that mere denials were not enough to get an accused off the hook, a Quezon City judge on Thursday convicted a man arrested more than four years ago by the police in a drug bust.

Judge Severino de Castro Jr. of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 82 sentenced Mohamadali Mawarao, also known as “Danny,” to life imprisonment for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

He also ordered the convicted man to pay a fine of P500,000.

In finding Mawarao guilty beyond reasonable doubt, the judge said that the accused could not rely on mere denials alone to escape prosecution.

Mawarao was arrested on Dec. 30, 2008 in a drug bust conducted by PO3 Eric Lazo and SPO1 Miguel Gayagoy of the Batasan police station on San Miguel Street in Barangay Payatas, Quezon City.

Gayagoy, accompanied by a police informer, posed as a buyer and approached Mawarao who was standing near a lamp post and talking to two men.

They told Mawarao that they wanted to buy P200 worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu.” When the policeman handed over P200, Mawarao gave him two sachets of shabu, resulting in his arrest by Lazo.

Mawarao, however, denied the accusation against him in court, saying he was inside his house that night when he heard sounds of a scuffle coming from a nearby mosque.

Four policemen then kicked open the door to his house and announced that they were looking for Arman Omar.

Mawarao said he told the lawmen that he did not know the man they were looking for although they insisted on bringing him to the Batasan police station.