PDEA and PNP agents conduct an inventory of the 40 kilograms of shabu worth P272 million which were seized from a top Chinese drug target during a buy-bust operation in Quezon City on Sunday morning. It was the 1st major drug bust of the PDEA and the PNP since the start of the Marcos Jr. administration.
Nearly P1.8B shabu seized, 2 fall in QC, Cavite stings
OPERATIVES of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Sunday arrested two top Chinese drug traffickers in the country during separate buy-bust operations in Quezon City and Cavite which led to the seizure of 300 kilograms of high-grade shabu worth nearly P1.8 billion, PDEA chair, Director General Wilkins M. Villanueva said.
Arrested during the 1st entrapment operation along Maria Clara Street in Barangay Lourdes, Q.C. beside the Orthopedic Hospital was Jia Cai Zhu alias ‘Anson Chua, a 41-year old Chinese national residing on Durian Street, Cuevasville Subdivision in Molino III, Bacoor City in Cavite.
A follow-up sting in Dasmariñas City in Cavite led to the arrest of a 2nd Chinese national identified as 41-year old Hai Lin and the confiscation of 260 kilos of the so-called ‘poor man’s cocaine’ valued at P1.496 billion.
It was the 1st major anti-narcotics operation in a day launched by the PDEA together with the PNP Drug Enforcement Group, Q.C. Police District, Armed Forces and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency since President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ R. Marcos Jr. took over as the 17th Philippine commander-in-chief last Thursday.
Members of the PDEA National Capital Region Office under Director Christian Frivaldo spearheaded the buy-bust in Q.C. with the support of officers from the PNP-DEG, the Task Force Noah and Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, NICA and the QCPD Station 1, said PNP-DEG director, Brigadier Gen. Randy Q. Peralta in a report to PNP Officer-in-Charge, Lieutenant Gen. Vicente D. Danao Jr.
Recovered during the Q.C. sting were 40 kilograms of shabu,’ the buy-bust money topped by a marked P1,000 bill, a mobile phone and a Toyota Corolla belonging to the accused.
An hour later, the same group of law enforcement agents arrested Hai Lin during a buy-bust on Block 19, Lt 13, Phase in Fullana Street corner Soriano St., Avida Residences in Santa Catalina along Molino-Paliparan Road in Dasmariñas City.
Recovered during the operation were 220 kilos of shabu worth P1.496 billion, five cellphones, the suspect’s driver’s license and vaccination card.
As of press time, PDEA and PNP operatives are still conducting follow-up operations to identify and arrest the other cohorts of the suspect. The recovered mobile phones are set to be subjected to a forensic examination to determine other contacts of the duo.
Villanueva said the suspects are now being held at the PDEA detention center in Q.C. and are facing non-bailable charges for the sale and possession of prohibited drugs under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. With Melnie Ragasa-Jimena & Jun I. Legaspi
