‘Shabu,’ marijuana bricks seized from QC couple

Quezon City Police District Director Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar presents Bernhard Gagarin, 37, during an antidrug operation in Barangay Krus na Ligas on Friday.—PHOTO BY NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

An alleged top drug peddler who refused to surrender under the revived Oplan Tokhang earlier this week was arrested by Quezon City police in his house on Friday.

Bernhart Gagarin, along with his wife Cherry Anne, was collared by operatives of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) who raided their house along Amorsolo Street in Barangay Krus na Ligas, a short distance from the QCPD headquarters in Camp Karingal.

Members of the antidrug unit of the QCPD’s Anonas station and agents from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency served a search warrant issued by Judge Rosanna Fe Romero-Maglaya of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 88.

Not 1st run-in with the law

Seized from the couple’s home were around 50 grams of “shabu” (crystal meth) worth around P250,000 and three bricks of dried marijuana leaves, with an estimated value of P75,000.

Authorities also recovered a .22-caliber handgun with bullets and a hand grenade from the couple.

They were also charged with illegal possession of explosives.

Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, QCPD director, said this was not Bernhart’s first run-in with the law.

Last November, he was arrested at a police checkpoint in Fairview for not wearing a motorcycle helmet.

He was then reportedly caught in possession of a sachet of shabu and cash amounting to P350,000.

Drug courier

Eleazar said Bernhart then admitted that he was a drug courier, despite having earlier surrendered under the government’s antidrug campaign.

He was allegedly going to remit the cash he earned from his illegal drug activities to a certain Anok.

The suspect, however, was later released on bail.

“Since then, we had placed him under close surveillance and last Tuesday, the police visited him for Tokhang but he refused to come out of his house,” Eleazar said, noting that authorities had received a tip that he had returned to his illegal activities.