Duo paid bus dispatcher to deliver ‘shabu’

Carrying what he described as drug samples for a “taste test,” a man and his female companion were arrested on Tuesday after they were tagged as drug couriers who bribed bus dispatchers to bring packages—usually containing ordinary items where the drugs are concealed—to their point of destination where these would be picked up by the “customer.”

Their names withheld to avoid jeopardizing follow-up operations, the 42-year-old male and 36-year-old female were arrested on Molina Street in Barangay Alabang, Muntinlupa City. Seized from the man were three transparent plastic sachets containing suspected “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride), according to case investigator PO1 Psylo Jimenez of the city police’s Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operations Task Group.

Jimenez said the two were arrested in a follow-up operation after security personnel of a bus terminal in the area said on Saturday that a man had tried to pay a dispatcher to place aboard their buses a small box. The box was addressed to Bert Umalla who lived in Luzon, with the name of the province being withheld by authorities at press time.

The bus dispatcher, however, became suspicious because the man tried to pay him P500, an amount he considered too big for the box’s size. When asked what the box contained, the man ran off, prompting security personnel to call the police. Found inside the box was a light fixture which contained a small packet of suspected shabu.

Jimenez said that the male suspect arrested on Tuesday was positively identified by the bus terminal guards as the one who left the package. The suspect also admitted to being a drug courier for someone in the province indicated on the box, a job which earned him P5,000 per transaction.

The female suspect, on the other hand, said she had no knowledge of her companion’s alleged drug transactions, and that she was only with him because he had promised her a job. The two are neighbors residing in Cavite.