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Six suspected persons, including two minors, were arrested on Sunday by the Antinarcotics and Presidential Security Group agents for transporting 21 kilos of marijuana at the back of the presidential mansion.
Sr. Insp. John Paul Mencio, deputy chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency ( PDEA ), said one of the suspects eluded arrest as enforcers surrounded Outlook Drive where the buy-bust took place.
Arrested were Washington Pelitan, 35; Melgie Ebanues, 30; Estrella Lobito, 40; and driver Anthony Aludos. Authorities withhold the names of the two male minors, aged 17.
Mencio told reporters that the arrest came after one of the suspects approached a PDEA informant asking him about a buyer of at least 200 kilos of marijuana bricks.
The informant said he knew of a potential buyer and agreed to do the transaction on Wright Park with 20 kilos of marijuana bricks as initial supply, but the buy-bust took place on Outlook Drive.
Mencio said that one of the older suspects could face serious offense for instructing the minors as couriers by ordering them to load the marijuana in a taxi in La Trinidad, Benguet, before it was transported to Baguio.
One of the minors told The Times that he was unaware of the transaction, saying that he was surprised that the sack was full of marijuana bricks. Authorities would turn over the two minors to the Department of Social Welfare and Development on court order.
The taxi driver, on the other hand, said he fetched the five suspects in La Trinidad with an agreement they would pay him regular taxi-fare rate.
Mencio said some of the arrested suspects were subjects of long-time surveillance. He added that the PDEA would intensify its antiillegal drugs operation, so that illegal drug pushers would be brought to face the law.
Source: Manila Times (Philippines)
Copyright: 2005, The Manila Times
Contact: newsboy1@manilatimes.net
Website: News | Opinion | Philippines | Asia | World
Sr. Insp. John Paul Mencio, deputy chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency ( PDEA ), said one of the suspects eluded arrest as enforcers surrounded Outlook Drive where the buy-bust took place.
Arrested were Washington Pelitan, 35; Melgie Ebanues, 30; Estrella Lobito, 40; and driver Anthony Aludos. Authorities withhold the names of the two male minors, aged 17.
Mencio told reporters that the arrest came after one of the suspects approached a PDEA informant asking him about a buyer of at least 200 kilos of marijuana bricks.
The informant said he knew of a potential buyer and agreed to do the transaction on Wright Park with 20 kilos of marijuana bricks as initial supply, but the buy-bust took place on Outlook Drive.
Mencio said that one of the older suspects could face serious offense for instructing the minors as couriers by ordering them to load the marijuana in a taxi in La Trinidad, Benguet, before it was transported to Baguio.
One of the minors told The Times that he was unaware of the transaction, saying that he was surprised that the sack was full of marijuana bricks. Authorities would turn over the two minors to the Department of Social Welfare and Development on court order.
The taxi driver, on the other hand, said he fetched the five suspects in La Trinidad with an agreement they would pay him regular taxi-fare rate.
Mencio said some of the arrested suspects were subjects of long-time surveillance. He added that the PDEA would intensify its antiillegal drugs operation, so that illegal drug pushers would be brought to face the law.
Source: Manila Times (Philippines)
Copyright: 2005, The Manila Times
Contact: newsboy1@manilatimes.net
Website: News | Opinion | Philippines | Asia | World
