P480K MARIJUANA BRICKS SEIZED

A TRICYCLE driver was intercepted with 32 bricks of dried marijuana leaves worth P 480,000 in a checkpoint along McArthur Highway, Barangay Santo Cristo in Angeles City, Pampanga Thursday evening. Chief Supt. Aaron Aquino, police regional director, said Michael Benjie Moya Jr. of Dau Ville, Mabalacat was flagged down by Angeles City police for routine check when the marijuana bricks wrapped with packaging tape were found in his tricycle. Meanwhile, police operatives from the town of Bocaue, Bulacan and Magalang, Pampanga conducted separate buy-busts, which resulted in the death of a suspected pusher and the arrest of five others. The slain suspect was identified as Leonardo Aquino of Barangay Taal, Bocaue. Arrested were Manolo Mercado, Jojo delos Santos, Raymond Condez and Ryan Gonzales all of the same barangay. In Barangay Santa Lucia, Magalang, suspect Jerwin Garcia, 37, who is included in a drug watch list, was arrested by the police in a separate operation.

MORE DRUGS, AMMO CONFISCATED

THREE men wanted for various offenses were nabbed and P78,000 worth of illegal drugs were seized from one of them during separate manhunts in Butuan City, Cagayan and Laguna. Chief Supt. Roel Obusan, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) director, identified the arrested suspects as Julius Cortez, Richie Lucas and Benito Manalo. Cortez was arrested in Surigao del Norte after joint military and police forces swooped down on his hiding place in Purok 1A, Brgy. Taguibo in Butuan City on Thursday. Seized from Cortez, a high-value target, were seven plastic sachets of shabu worth P78, 000. Meanwhile, Lucas, facing charges for seven counts of rape, was arrested at his hiding place in Barangay Cunig, Gattaran town in Cagayan. Manalo, on the other hand, was collared in San Vicente Ferrer, Barangay Palo Alto in Calamba City, Laguna with more than 150 rounds of ammunition for different calibers of firearms, several rifles and magazines.