A NOTORIOUS drug pusher who operated just meters away from the Golden Mosque in Quiapo, Manila, managed to elude policemen who raided his house on Tuesday morning.
Armed with a search warrant, members of the Plaza Miranda police precinct entered the Golden Mosque compound and raided the house of Ansoy Abas which was near the mosque.
However, they found only his wife, Amila Aja, who was placed under arrest, along with several others who were loitering near the suspect’s house and acting suspiciously.
The police also seized from Abas’ house P2.5 million worth of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” and four firearms.
In an interview, Quiapo police precinct head Chief Insp. John Guiagui said that residents in the compound considered the suspect a nuisance.
“People have been complaining against him because he sells drugs even when prayers are ongoing at the mosque,” Guiagui added.
Charges of peddling and illegal possession of drugs and firearms are set to be filed against Abas and his wife today, he said.
Another couple, another bust
In Quezon City, a Manila barangay chair and her live-in partner—tagged by the police as known drug personalities—were charged following their arrest in an entrapment operation hatched by a joint police team from both cities.
Barangay 377 chair Joycee Reyes, 36, and her live-in partner Mariano Duque, 46, underwent inquest proceedings on Tuesday for possession and the sale of illegal drugs in the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.
Two days earlier, they were arrested for selling 25 grams of shabu worth P10,000 to a member of the Quezon City police’s Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (AIDSOTG) in Barangay West Triangle, Quezon City. The suspects later yielded 80 more grams of drugs worth P100,000.
According to Quezon City AIDSOTG head Chief Insp. Enrico Figueroa, Duque arrived at the agreed upon meeting place—a fastfood restaurant on Quezon Avenue—with Reyes on Sunday. Both were on a motorcycle with a license plate that read “Chairman.”
At the end of the transaction, a joint team from the Quezon City AIDSOTG and Manila police placed the couple under arrest.
In a phone interview, Figueroa said that based on their joint investigation, the two suspects were known drug personalities in Sta. Cruz, Manila.