Agents nab 2 pushers, seize cocaine

MANILA, Philippines—Anti-narcotics agents seized half a kilogram of cocaine and arrested two suspected drug pushers, including a Filipino-American, in an entrapment operation in Quezon City early Wednesday.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said it seized the cocaine from Mark Barbers Ablan, 49, a businessman from Mandaluyong City, and Mark Lorenzo Diaz, 46, a Filipino-American residing in Pasay City.

Members of the PDEA’s Special Enforcement Service, along with the agency’s operatives in its Metro Manila office, arrested the two after they allegedly sold six sachets of cocaine to an undercover agent about 1 a.m. at a gas station on Katipunan Avenue in Diliman, Quezon City.

Also recovered from the suspects were three small sachets of marijuana, assorted medicines, drug paraphernalia and a Toyota Camry bearing the plate number XNX-336, PDEA Director General Jose S. Gutierrez Jr. said in a statement.

Ablan and Diaz were detained at the PDEA-National Capital Region detention facility and the seized evidence was submitted to the PDEA Laboratory Service for a qualitative examination.

The PDEA said it was readying charges against the two for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.