Davao-bound bus yields P30-M shabu

MANILA, Philippines – Pasay City policemen recovered Monday afternoon six kilos of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu with a street value of P30 million inside a bag abandoned in a passenger bus bound for Davao City, a police official said yesterday.

Senior Superintendent Joel Doria, Pasay police chief, said a female passenger of Grand Cruiser bus told a security guard that a man left a black bag inside the bus that was parked in the EVI terminal along EDSA in Malibay.

Lawmen initially suspected that a bomb could be inside the bag but when Senior Inspector Maynard Pascual, commander of Police Community Precinct 7, inspected the bag it contained six kilos of shabu, packed in plastic bags. 

Doria said the bus was not allowed to travel and was examined by crime scene investigators.

“We are still investigating the case to determine the identity of the man who left the bag,” Doria said.

Drug users taken into custody

Meanwhile, at least 234 drug users surrendered in Pasig and Marikina yesterday.

Fifteen of the 210 drug users who surrendered in Pasig were female, said Eastern Police District director Chief Superintendent Elmer Jamias. The EPD has jurisdiction over the police forces of Mandaluyong, Pasig, Marikina and San Juan.

The drug users in Marikina were visited and warned by police officers during the past week against continuing to use or sell drugs, he said.

They will undergo rehabilitation and be given livelihood programs to enable them to start a new life, Jamias said.

Alleged pusher nabbed

In San Juan, Mariavi Ecat, 38, was arrested by members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-National Capital Region (CIDG-NCR) in a drug sting in Barangay West Crame Monday.

CIDG-NCR head Senior Superintendent Ronaldo Lee said they monitored Ecat for two weeks following reports that she is behind the proliferation of shabu in West Crame.

An undercover policeman arranged to buy half a gram of shabu from Ecat for P800, Lee said.

Police officers who frisked Ecat found 13 sachets of shabu on her person.

QCPD eyes 50,000  addicts’ surrender

The Quezon City Police District is targeting the surrender of 50,000 drug addicts to achieve a drug-free city, said Senior Superintendent Joselito Esquivel, QCPD deputy director.

He said based on statistics given by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, which claims that 2.5 percent of the population are addicted to drugs, this would mean that at least 50,000 Quezon City residents are drug-dependent. The city has a population of around 2.2 million. – With Non Alquitran, Robertzon Ramirez