POLICE are tracking down the cohorts of a Chinese drug trafficker who yielded 371 kilos of suspected shabu worth P2.522 billion during a buy-bust operation in Makati City on Tuesday night.
In a press briefing in Camp Crame, PNP officer-in-charge Lt. Gen Archie Gamboa said the arrest of Liu Chao and confiscation of the drugs point to the downfall of the suspects’ drug syndicate.
Gamboa, however, did not identify the syndicate supposedly led by Chao, who was nabbed at his apartment on Banuyo St. in San Antonio, Makati City by operatives of the PNP Drug Enforcement Unit.
Chao was accosted after handing a kilo of shabu to a poseur buyer. He then ran inside his apartment where policemen found 370 kilos of shabu.
Follow-up operations resulted in the arrest of Chao’s supposed drug couriers — Joel Bustamante and Merwin Bustamante — in Las Pinas City on Wednesday. The two yielded 17 kilos of shabu worth P115.6 million.
“Continuous intelligence research and follow up operations are being done to track down all his drug peddlers,” said Gamboa, who refused to give additional information related to the seized drugs, including its country origin, because of the ongoing follow-up operations.
He said relentless operations will continue against drug traffickers “who only seek to profit at the expense of our society by disregarding the destruction they cause to individuals and their families.”
Gamboa also said there is a need for anti-narcotics agencies to step up operations to cut the supply line of drugs.
“We really have to focus on the supply side because despite our aggressive campaign, there is still plenty of supply of illegal drugs. We have to stop the network of supply of illegal drugs,” said Gamboa.
Dangerous Drug Board chairman Catalino Cuy said the seizure of the 371 kilos of shabu in Makati City will reduce the drug supply in the market.
Police nabbed a female pusher included in the drug watch list in a buy-bust operation in Pasay City last Wednesday night.
Elizabeth Castor, 29, was arrested in an operation conducted by operatives at her house on Eusebio St. in Barangay 42 Zone 6 at about 9:30 p.m.
Seized from her were two sachets of suspected shabu.
Nine persons were arrested in separate anti-drug operations in Pasig and Marikina.
Brig. Gen Johnson Almazan, Eastern police district director, identified the nine as Ambrosio Cruz, 27; Eris Baldoza, 21; Jay Mar Pinos, 26; Bernadette Dionisio, 19; Mar Arellano, 38; Jayson Bayhon, 41; Joana Paula Dantes, 41; Richard Salvador, 41; and Ramon Mira, 40. — Rod Lagusad with Christian Oineza
