Four men, including two brothers, were arrested in a drug sting carried out inside a computer shop in Parañaque City.
The suspects, all residents of Barangay BF homes, yielded a total of about 10 grams of “shabu” in the operation, according to the Southern Police District (SPD).
Arrested were McArtney “Ewa” Ramos, 28; his brother Joshua Ramos, 22; Michael Rebato, 25; and Arnold Manangkil, 18.
A report to the district director, Chief Supt. Tomas Apolinario, said SPD’s Special Enforcement Unit (SEU) conducted a buy-bust operation targeting the older Ramos based on a tip that drugs were being sold at the shop located on the ground floor of the Ramos residence.
A poseur buyer, SPO2 Romeo Pepito, met with Ewa in the computer shop owned by the brothers on Santol Street, Sampaloc Site 2, around 5 p.m. on Jan. 25.
Ewa, who also worked as a makeup artist, was caught selling a sachet of shabu for P5,000 to the undercover officer and was later found keeping seven more sachets in his purse.
The three other suspects—the only other persons in the shop at the time—were also found with a sachet of shabu each when frisked, the SPD said.
The four men remained in detention and were set to undergo inquest proceedings on Saturday.
In an interview, SEU head Chief Insp. Jerry Amidalan said Ewa also had buyers who would repack and resell the drugs at a profit.
The drug transactions may have been going on since December but were reported to the police by a neighbor three weeks ago, he added.—JODEE A. AGONCILLO