‘Small teams’ deliver in QC war vs drugs

LOAD OF TROUBLE Suspected drug pushers Alimar Sulaiman (left) and his teenage cohort are found carrying several packs of “shabu” worth P4 million in their car in a buy-bust operation of the Quezon City Police District on Wednesday. LYN RILLON

MANILA, Philippines—In a span of four days, the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) arrested six suspected drug dealers, an accomplishment attributed to its recent reactivation of small, community-level antinarcotics teams.

The latest to fall Wednesday morning were Alimar Sulaiman, 26, and his 16-year-old accomplice, both residents of Quiapo, Manila, in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Salvacion.

The entrapment involved an undercover agent who ordered 100 grams of “shabu” from the suspects, whose car later yielded about a kilo of the drug when searched by the arresting team. The total drug haul was valued at P4 million.

Insp. Roberto Razon, head of the QCPD Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group, said the suspects had packed the shabu in several bags, an indication that they had other buyers to meet that day.

“They seem to operate from the area of responsibility of the (QCPD) La Loma police up to the area of the Novaliches police,” Razon said.

Sulaiman and his underaged partner became targets based on information extracted from two other drug dealing suspects—one of them a policeman—who were arrested in Barangay North Fairview on Monday. The first two were PO1 Brazil Mujawarin, 30; and Bonifacio Mundalo, 21.

Monday’s arrest, in turn, was made possible by the capture the previous day of Mario Cungayaw and Jason Castillo, who pointed to Mujawarin as their source of shabu.

Cungayaw and Castillo disclosed that Mujawarin was scheduled to meet a buyer at a convenience store on Commonwealth Avenue, prompting the task group to put the area under surveillance.

Mujawarin did arrive at the store on a motorbike together with Mundalo. The policeman, who is assigned to Rodriguez, Rizal province, but resides in Barangay Tandang Sora, Quezon City, was found carrying two sachets of shabu when arrested.

Mundalo was identified as a high school student from Barangay North Fairview.

According to Razon, Mujawarin may be considered a “low-level pusher” compared to Sulaiman, but he served as a “protector” of other dealers.

The arrests were made a week after “station-level” antidrug units were reactivated by the QCPD at the request of barangay officials. Teams formed under this system were dissolved last year due to mounting complaints of incompetence and irregularities.

QCPD director Senior Supt. Joel Pagdilao earlier explained that the reactivated units would have a stronger system of checks and balances.

All of their operations also require the prior approval of the district command and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Personnel selected for the teams are made to undergo a strict screening process and should have no bad record.

Pagdilao said each of the city’s 12 police stations would be given at least four members to form an antidrug team.