Metrobriefs

2 nabbed in Pasig drug bust

Pasig City’s eighth-most wanted drug suspect, whose buyers included teenagers, young professionals and even security guards, was arrested in an entrapment operation  Friday night. PO1 Lodjie Cruz said members of the city police’s Station Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operations Task Group led by Insp. Perfecto Felix de Mayo Jr. caught Paulo Santana and his friend, Miller Mejia, in front of a fast-food restaurant on Julia Vargas Avenue, Barangay (village) Ugong around 8 p.m. Pasig police chief Senior Supt. Jose Hidalgo Jr. said Santana was the sixth of the city’s 10 most-wanted drug suspects to be arrested in the last four months. Last month, two others were arrested, Andres Pasco III and his live-in partner, Marla Santos. Cruz said 40-year-old Santana, who was out on bail after being charged in 2007 with possession of illegal drugs, found himself behind bars again when he was caught selling three sachets of shabu  for P500 to an undercover policeman. When frisked, he yielded two more sachets. Another sachet was found in Mejia’s possession. In their three-month surveillance of the suspect, Cruz said they found out that Santana sold drugs to his clients in an alley next to an electronic bingo outlet on Julia Vargas Avenue or in front of the fast-food restaurant.–Jovic Yee

NBI seizes fake Bulgaris, Chanels in Manila raids

Fake Bulgari, Chanel and Burberry products worth P67 million have been seized by National Bureau of Investigation agents from three shopping malls in Quiapo and Binondo, both in Manila. The NBI Intellectual Property Rights Division (IPRD) conducted raids on Tuesday on various stalls at 168 Shopping Mall and 999 Shopping Mall in Binondo, and at the Plaza Miranda Shopping Mall in Quiapo based on a search warrant issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46, according to a post-operation report. The NBI said it conducted the raids after it received a complaint about the proliferation of the fake products, adding that it was gathering more evidence for the filing of charges against the stall owners.–Erika Sauler