5 arrested as Taguig cops trace party drug supply chain

A series of buy-bust operations from Sept. 10 to 12 led to the arrest of five people, including a retired US Air Force intelligence officer, who allegedly supplied party drugs at high-end bars in Taguig and Makati cities.

The Taguig police identified the arrested suspects as Amos Apostol, Kenneth Andrew Santillan, Auriane Brian Combe, Patrick Wayne Tandez and American national Raul Antonio Cisneros. They remained in detention at press time.

They allegedly yielded a total of 1,226 ecstasy pills worth P1.8 million, 11 sachets of suspected “shabu”, and a bottle of sterile water used for injection.

The Taguig police chief, Senior Supt. Allen Ocden, said his men were able to conduct the operations in quick succession after one arrested suspect pointed them to a bigger seller, who in turn led them to another until a total of five suppliers were captured.

The Bonifacio Global City police arrested the 28-year-old Apostol, from Guiguinto, Bulacan, inside the Palace Pool Club around 3 a.m. on Saturday. Apostol then identified Santillan as his supplier, Ocden said.

Santillan, when arrested around 10 p.m. on Saturday beside F1 Hotel in BGC, revealed Combe as his source.

Combe was tracked down on Sunday around 4:15 a.m. in Acacia, Barangay Ususan, Taguig. He then pointed to Tandez, who was arrested Sunday around 1:30 p.m. in a convenience store at Grand Midori condominium in Legaspi Village, Makati,

Information obtained by the police from Tandez led them next to Cisneros, an American national and retired intelligence officer of the US Air Force.

Cisneros was arrested inside his condominium unit in Taguig, around 2 p.m. Monday.

Recovered from Cisneros were 1,100 pieces of ecstasy pills in different colors, including the pink “Hello Kitty” variety.

Chief Supt. Oscar Albayalde, director of the National Capital Region Police Office, said Cisneros, who arrived in Manila in April, revealed his supplier to be a fellow American based in Miami, Florida.