Drug sellers use ‘flower shop’ as front:  7 nabbed, P15M shabu seized

MANILA — On their business application, the owners of the Epitome Flower Shop located on the eighth floor of an office building in Binondo, Manila, seemed to run the most innocuous of enterprises.

But when the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region (CIDG-NCR) led a sting operation in their “shop,” the police didn’t find any flowers. What they found instead were three kilos of illegal drugs worth around P15 million.

In coordination with the National Capital Region Police Office and the Manila Police District, the CIDG-NCR conducted a buy-bust operation late Tuesday afternoon at the flower shop located at the Pacific Center Building on Quintin Paredes St. in Barangay 289, Zone 27.

After the deal was consummated and the suspects accepted the marked money, police swooped down on the 24-square-meter office — containing only three desks and two computer units — and confiscated three bags — one paper gift bag, one eco-bag, and one backpack — each containing a kilo of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride).

Arrested during the operation were Karen Mae Tan, registered owner of the Epitome Flower Shop, Bernadette Ortega, the shop’s secretary, and Maricon Aina Castro, Arman Ocba, Christopher Viray, Arman Baer, and Judith Maglalang.

Although the suspects denied the illicit dealings, Senior Supt Ronald Lee, CIDG-NCR chief, noted their flower shop was obviously just a front. “How can you even tell there’s a flower shop there? It’s on the eighth floor,” Lee pointed out, in a phone interview.

The suspects had only recently moved to the office, perhaps only “a few days before,” Lee said, noting the “shop” was still bare.

Lee said Tan, in denying wrongdoing, first accused the CIDG-NCR of planting the illegal drugs in their office, but eventually changed her tune and claimed she “had a project” with an agent of the Manila Police District Anti-Illegal Drugs Unit whom she only identified as “Tata Boboy.”

The suspects faced inquest proceedings for possession and sale of illegal drugs on Wednesday afternoon, and are currently detained at the CIDG-NCR office.  SFM