‘U-Belt drug source’ busted

A man believed to be the source of illegal drugs being sold to students on Manila’s University Belt was arrested in a buy-bust operation on Thursday night.

Barhaman Mushin, 28, yielded P3 million worth of “shabu” when entrapped near a university on España Boulevard, according to Chief Insp. Roque Merdegia, spokesperson of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) of the Philippine National Police.

Mushin, a native of Zamboanga City and resident of Barangay Commonwealth, Quezon City, was arrested around 6:40 p.m. after meeting with an undercover agent on Tolentino Street in Sampaloc, Manila.

“He delivers the illegal substance to drug peddlers in the University Belt area, who reportedly cater to students there,” Merdegia said of the suspect in an interview on Friday.

Though his name had not cropped up before on the
AIDSOTF’s target list of drug personalities, the task force started monitoring the suspect after authorities learned of his activities through an informant.

The suspect initially planned to sell a kilo of shabu to the poseur buyer for P1 million, but Mushin showed up for the transaction with a total of 1.5 kilos of the illegal drug.

Before he was arrested, the suspect even offered to  sell more than what was previously agreed upon with agent, Merdegia added.

When questioned, Mushin was tight-lipped about his own source and claimed he was just a courier taking orders. He was set to undergo inquest proceedings for drug possession and peddling under Republic Act No. 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.