Nearly P10M shabu seized, 5 ‘HVTs’ nabbed in Metro Manila
FIVE “high-value targets” in Metro Manila were arrested in two separate anti-narcotics operations which led in the seizure of nearly P10 million worth of shabu this week, a report to Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar said on Saturday.
Three of the suspects identified as Esmaeil Taha Abdilla, 30; Salahuddin Burak Zumbaga, 29; and Amak Abo, 28, yielded a kilo of the so-called “poor man’s cocaine” worth P6.8 million during a buy-bust operation along Dra. A. Santos Avenue in Bgy. San Dionisio, Parañaque City around 4 p.m. last Thursday, said PNP Drug Enforcement Group (DEG) director, Brigadier Gen. Remus B. Medina.
Medina said that members of the PNP-DEG, assisted by the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Drug Enforcement Unit and the Parañaque City Police Station, conducted the successful sting.
He said that Abdilla, a resident of 0002 Salam Mosque Compound in Tandang Sora, Quezon City, has been identified as a “high-value individual” listed as the top 10 priority drug target in Metro Manila.
The suspect is a known member of the Arman Apinado Drug Group, the PNP-DEG director said.
Zumbaga is a resident of Golden Mosque Compound in Quiapo, Manila while Abo is from 79-B Tehran Street in KK BF Homes, Parañaque City.
Recovered from the suspects were a kilo of shabu worth P6.8 million, the boodle money topped by a marked P1,000 bill, assorted identification cards, four mobile phones and a Ford Lynx with plate No. XGX-926.
The two other suspects identified as Najeb Abdulwahab, 26, of 648 Palanca Street in San Miguel, Manila; and Najir Mustapha, 30, a Lalamove drive from Bgy. Commonwealth, Q.C. were arrested in a sting in Salmon Street in Dagat-Dagatan, Bgy. 8 in Caloocan City last September 29, said NCRPO director, Major Gen. Vicente D. Danao Jr.
Recovered from the suspects were 200 grams of shabu worth P1.360 million and the marked money paid to them by an undercover officer. A brown Kia Rio with plate No. UBQ 613 used by the two to transport the drugs was impounded by the NCRPO.
All suspects are now facing non-bailable charges for sale and possession of prohibited drugs under Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
