OPERATIVES of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency arrested five suspected drug peddlers and seized more than five kilos of suspected shabu worth P37.4 million in Marikina City yesterday and Manila on Tuesday.
PDEA National Capital Region director Adrian Alvarino identified the suspects nabbed in Marikina as Alysa Marie Merdegia, 22; and Rocky Macabanding, 31, both of Barangay Tumana.
Alvarino said they were arrested in a buy-bust operation at around 10 a.m. on E. Santos St. in front of the Puregold branch in Barangay Concepcion.
Seized from them were five packs, each containing a kilo of suspected shabu worth P34 million, two P1,000 bills placed on top of bundles of boodle money, and the identification card of Macabanding.
Three more suspected drug pushers were arrested in another buy-bust operation in Manila, according to PDEA spokesman Derrick Carreon.
Carreon identied the suspects as Abolkahair Mapandi, Jamilah Mapandi and Cathy Fatima Ampatoa.
The three were nabbed after selling 500 grams of suspected shabu, worth P3.4 million, to a poseur-buyer at around 2:30 p.m. on Gonzalo Puyat St. in Quiapo, Manila.
Also seized from them were the P1,000 buy-bust money, a wallet, identification cards and ATM cards.
Four more persons were arrested in buy-bust operation in Marikina on Tuesday night, with P2.3 million worth of suspected shabu seized.
Col. Restituto Arcangel, local police chief, identified the four as Noel Del Rosario, 33; Sonny Boy Manililo, 32; Ariel San Pascual, 38; and Jherelyn Saceda, 34. — With Christian Oineza
