MANILA, Philippines - Two members of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) were allegedly caught on closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage repacking shabu in a police car parked at the compound of the Sandiganbayan on Tuesday night.
“We are waiting for a complete report from the security officers on duty at the time,” Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang said in a text message to reporters yesterday.
“We will meet with our security people before taking action,” Tang said.
Insiders, who refused to be named, said CCTV footage showed the policemen apparently repacking drugs in a patrol car of the QCPD Station 6.
The police car (QC-57) was parked at the back of the Sandiganbayan compound at around 8:40 p.m.
The police officers drove away at around 3:20 a.m.
Tang said they would submit the CCTV footage to the Philippine National Police (PNP) for investigation.
‘Packs of peanuts’
The police officers, whose identities remain withheld, were said to be eating “peanuts” after the QCPD reviewed the CCTV footage.
QCPD director Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, however, placed the policemen in restrictive custody pending further investigation.
Police were able to review the surveillance footage yesterday, although a copy of the CCTV has yet to be released by the Sandiganbayan.
An official of the QCPD said one of the policemen was seen on the CCTV footage holding a rolled packet similar to a tooter.
The official said this turned out to be “Happy” peanuts, which the policeman put into his mouth.
The “sachets of illegal drugs” in between his legs were peanuts, the official said.
The police officers tested negative for shabu during an on the spot drug testing at the QCPD headquarters as well as the initial test of the PNP Crime Laboratory. – With Romina Cabrera