Couple, 2 others arrested; shabu seized in shanty

Acouple, allegedly involved in a big-time drug peddling, along with their two cohorts were arrested in a buy-bust operation that yielded over 15 million worth of illegal drugs in a shanty located at the back of a barangay hall in Pasay City Friday night.

Chief Inspector Gerry Amindalan, head of Southern Police DistrictDrug Enforcement Unit (SPD-DEU), identified the suspects as Arnel Teoro, 53, of No. 1950 Tramo Street, Barangay 61, Zone 8 and his live-in partner Moana Jasmine Mina alias Tin-Tin, 25; and their cohorts Arvin Michael Cruz, 30 and Sean Al Stephen Tabangcura, 29.

They were nabbed in Teoro’s shanty at 9:50 p.m. where police seized an estimated 15,050,000 worth of illegal drugs, Amindalan said.

The DEU found a zip lock and transparent plastic bag containing suspected shabu that weighed over a kilo, six other small plastic sachets also with suspected shabu, a sachet zip lock containing dried marijuana leaves, an improvised glass tooter, a digital weighing scale and two disposable lighters.

Big time retailer Amindalan told the Manila Bulletin that Teoro was a big time retailer of illegal drugs and has been the subject of surveillance for over a year now.

In fact, Teoro’s brother Archie, was also arrested by Pasay policemen in April, 2016 also due to his illegal drug activities. However, Archie’s partner identified as alias “Cheche” went on to continue the drug pushing activities, Amindalan bared.

“Pagtapos maaresto ng kapatid niya, si Cheche ang nagtuloy pero si Arnel na ang parang naging pinaka na nagbebenta. Tumutulong-tulong na lang si Cheche pati ‘yung kalive-in ni Arnel (Cheche took over the drugpeddling when Archie was arrested but Arnel do most of the drug pushing. Cheche and Arnel’s partner were just helping out),” Amindalan said.

Cheche, however, was not arrested as operatives believe she already lives somewhere else.

Amindalan also disclosed that Teoro’s arrest was a big blow to chairmen and congressmen, names withheld, who were verified to be linked to illegal drug activities.

“There have been identified chairmen and congressmen linked to drugs and they are the ones who control Teoro. We will wait for the recommendation of the Department of Interior and Local Government but we already have intelligence reports and surveillance for those barangay officials and politicians linked to him,” he said.