P50-M shabu seized in Pasig, Taguig busts

MANILA, Philippines - At least eight kilos of shabu, with a street value of around P50 million, were seized in two stings in Pasig and Taguig yesterday.

The operations also resulted in the arrest of three suspected drug traffickers.

Saadodin Badron, 26; Sukarno Bansil, 37; and Mahatir Malaco, 23, were presented in a press conference presided by Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa at Camp Crame last night.

Dela Rosa said Badron was arrested as he was handing over drugs to an undercover police officer along Marcos Highway in Pasig at past 3 p.m.

Police officers who searched his Mitsubishi Mirage, with license plate number ABM-8809, found six kilos of shabu hidden in a blue backpack, said Senior Superintendent Romulo Sapitula, Eastern Police District director.

Earlier in the day, Pasig police officers arrested Bansil and Malaco in a sting along C-5 Road in Taguig City.

Photo shows alleged drug traffickers Saadodin Badron, Sukarno Bansil and Mahatir Malaco. BOY SANTOS

A .45 caliber pistol, more than a kilo of shabu and a Toyota Innova with license plate number ABH-2534 were confiscated from the suspects.

“Badron and Bansil are the big-time traders, distributors of high-grade shabu in the eastern part of Metro Manila and nearby cities,” Sapitula said.

National Capital Regional Police director Chief Superintendent Oscar Albayalde, meanwhile, reported to Dela Rosa that illegal drugs increased in street value due to the diminishing supply, unlike before when illegal drugs were sold on the streets like cigarettes.

“That’s now the feedback we are now getting from ordinary people in Metro Manila,” he said.