GOVERNMENT prosecutors on Friday recommended the immediate filing in courts of a non-bailable charge of illegal drugs possession against ten persons recently arrested in Infanta, Quezon with P11-billion worth of shabu.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) stoutly claimed last week that the operation was the “biggest” single drug bust in Philippine history.

In a Department of Justice (DOJ) resolution dated March 21, 2022, respondents Alvin Ibardo, Jaymart Gallardo, Reynante Alpuerto, Jenard Samson, Jamelanie Samson, Mark Bryan Abonita, Marvin Gallardo, Dante Mannoso, Eugene Roger Bandoma, and Kennedy Abonita will be charged with violation of Section 5, Article II of Republic Act No. 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002), for transporting 1,680.563kg of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.

“After evaluation of the evidence, the Panel of Prosecutors found that the arrest of the respondents to be valid. Also, there is sufficient evidence to hold respondents for trial, ” the DOJ said in a press briefer.

The criminal information against all the respondents will be filed before the Regional Trial Court of Infanta, Quezon, the DOJ continued.

In a press statement issued last March 18, the NBI disclosed that the drugs seizure transpired on March 15, 2022, at around 4:00 a.m. in Bgy. Comon, Infanta, Quezon.

The operation was led by the NBI-Task Force Against Illegal Drugs (TFAID), NBI-Research and Analysis Division (RAD), and Lucena District Office (LUCDO) in coordination with Philippine National Police (PNP) in Infanta, Quezon, and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Lucena.

This resulted in the arrest of the suspects while in the act of transporting the illegal drugs on board three commuter vans.

Unprecedented and historic, considering the volume and amount, as of date, this is the biggest drug haul in Philippine history, the NBI claimed.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Hector Lawas