A Chinese drug trafficker died of a heart attack while his two cohorts, including another foreigner, were arrested in an anti-drug operation conducted by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Paranaque City.
The fatality was identified only as alias Stephen, 50, who was described by PDEA as a “high-value drug trafficker.”
Arrested were alias Mohamad, 32, a German-Syrian citizen, and Mikhaela, 24, a Filipino.
PDEA operatives conducted a buy-bust operation at the 18th floor of a hotel along Entertainment City, New Seaside Drive, in Barangay Tambo, with the three suspects as targets.
Stephen resisted arrest and stabbed and injured one of the PDEA operatives.
“This prompted the rest of the arresting officers to grapple with the suspect and later subdued him,” PDEA said in a statement.
During the commotion, PDEA said Stephen “had difficulty breathing and suddenly fell unconscious.
“He was brought to a nearby hospital for medical treatment but eventually died of a heart attack,” added PDEA.
Mohamad and Mikhaela were arrested without any other untoward incident.
Seized from the suspects was more or less one kilogram of suspected shabu with a street price of ₱6,800,000.00, the buy-bust money used during the operation and one glass tooter pipe.
Mohamad and Mikhaela are facing charges of violations of Section 5 (sale of dangerous drugs), Section 11 (possession of dangerous drugs), Section 12 (possession of drug paraphernalia) and Section 15 (use of dangerous drugs) of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
“If found guilty, a penalty of life imprisonment and a fine ranging from P500,000 to P10,000,000 will be imposed upon alias Mohamad and alias Mikhaela,” PDEA said.
PDEA Director General Isagani Nerez commended the PDEA personnel involved in the successful operation.
“The bravery shown by the arresting operatives in the face of a knife attack is commendable,” said Nerez.
“They dared to take action despite the dangers involved. Every single day, anti-drug operatives are putting their lives on the line to make our communities as safe as possible from illegal drugs,” added Nerez.
