2 held for P.6-M party drugs
Photo shows liquid ecstasy and tablets seized during a drug sting at a condominium unit in Mandaluyong City. The illegal drugs, valued at P666,000, were presented to media at the PDEA office in Quezon City yesterday. Liquid ecstasy, a new concoction, reportedly makes users go into convulsions and lose their minds.
Two men were arrested and P666,000 worth of various party drugs were seized during a sting at a condominium unit in Mandaluyong City on Thursday.
Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) operatives apprehended Lester Almalbez, 35, and Gerald Peñaflor, 26, in a unit at the Princeville Condominium.
The two men allegedly sold the drugs at bars and clubs.
PDEA director general Aaron Aquino said around 1.6 liters of liquid ecstasy, with a street value of around P480,000, were found inside energy drink bottles.
Almalbez allegedly sold the liquid ecstasy for P300 per milliliter.
Like flakka?
Aquino said the suspects could have mixed liquid ecstasy with other drugs to induce a “zombie-like”state in users. He compared it to a synthetic drug called alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone (alpha-PVP), popularly known as flakka.
The United States’ National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) said flakka is in the form of crystals that can be eaten, snorted, injected or vaporized in an e-cigarette or similar device.
Flakka can cause a condition called “excited delirium” that involves hyperstimulation, paranoia, and hallucinations that can lead to violent aggression and self-injury, NIDA warned.
The drug has been linked to deaths by suicide as well as heart attack. It can also dangerously raise body temperature and lead to kidney damage or kidney failure, NIDA said.
Aquino said a video found in the cell phones of one of the suspects showed a woman having seizures after supposedly taking liquid ecstasy mixed with other drugs.
The woman supposedly said that ecstasy tablets alone no longer had any effect so she had to take them with other drugs.
Newly appointed Dangerous Drugs Board chairman Catalino Cuy warned partygoers that they should be careful, given the dangerous effects of the illegal drugs now being concocted by syndicates.
He said that the drugs are odorless and hard to detect if mixed with drinks.
P.1-M high-grade weed seized
In Quezon City, Merhan Jahiron, 28, and Jovan Carino, 20, were arrested during a sting at a gas station along E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue at around 10:30 p.m. Thursday.
Four “teabags” of “Kush” or high-grade marijuana, two plastic bags of cocaine and some ecstasy tablets – with an estimated street value of P100,000 – were seized from the suspects.
Chief Inspector Ferdinand Mendoza, head of the Quezon City Police District drug enforcement unit, said the suspects sold drugs for a minimum transaction of P20,000.
They supposedly ordered, bought and sold drugs through social media sites and only made deposits to bank accounts before the drugs were delivered.
The two suspects allegedly sold Kush – a variant with a distinctive smell named after the Hindu Kush mountains where it is grown – for P3,000 per teabag as it is said to be 10 times more potent than regular marijuana, which is sold for P500 to P700 per teabag, Mendoza said.
Mendoza said Jahiron and Carino’s arrest followed the arrest of Nina Recio and her cohorts during a New Year’s Eve drug bust which yielded P1 million in party drugs.
Mendoza said Recio and the two nabbed suspects shared the same supplier, who is supposedly based abroad.