‘Kapre’ yields P7.14-M worth of ‘shabu’ in Caloocan bust

MANILA, Philippines — At 1.8 meters tall, 18-year-old Jaymark Mercene is popularly known at Libertad in Pasay City as “Kapre,” allegedly the “most trusted man” of a drug syndicate leader in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

On Wednesday, Mercene was arrested in an entrapment in Caloocan City by agents of the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit of the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO).

Police said “shabu” (crystal meth) with a street value of P7.14 million was seized from Mercene after he tried to sell P1.2 million worth of the illegal drug inside a room at Marsman Hotel at Grace Park East around 1:30 a.m.

The narcotics — weighing a kilo and 50 grams — were hidden in plastic tea packs marked “Guanyin Wang Refined Chinese Tea.”

Transaction moved

According to Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, the NCRPO chief, Mercene is a trusted man of Edgardo Mongado Co Jr., also known as JR Co, the leader of a drug ring based in Pasay City.

Eleazar said police were supposed to make the transaction in Pasay, but Mercene told the buyers to proceed to the Caloocan hotel.

“You’re still young, but that’s the excuse of every drug suspect we have arrested,” the NCRPO chief told the teenager.

Mercene was detained at the NCRPO cell at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. —Dexter Cabalza