Woman, daughter nabbed in Cebu drug bust

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Anti-narcotics agents seized a kilogram of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) worth P8 million from a woman and her daughter who were arrested here Monday afternoon, an official of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said Tuesday.

Esperideon Javier, officer-in-charge of the local PDEA unit, said Editha Pual, 58, and her daughter Maricris, 32, were arrested at the office of a courier service where they had allegedly claimed the shabu shipment but he refused to identify the establishment or give its location  for security reasons.

Javier told reporters that before the local anti-narcotics agency had received information from the Metro Manila office of PDEA that a big shipment of shabu was arriving in Cebu via a private courier service, the prohibited substance, also called ice or crystal meth, was allegedly shipped by a courier service branch in a mall in Alabang, Muntinlupa.

After receiving the information, Javier said, he immediately formed a team and coordinated with the management of the courier service.

Javier said he and his team waited for the shipment to be transported from a local warehouse to the courier’s office where they waited for the shipment’s consignee to show up and claim it. He said his agents pounced on the women after they had actually claimed the shipment  past 3 p.m. Monday.

Javier said it was the local PDEA office’s biggest haul this year.

The women face charges of violating of RA 9165, specifically transporting illegal drugs.

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