Hunt on for female courier as police seize ₱455.6-M shabu

Police seized ₱455.6 million worth of suspected shabu Saturday at the rented Las Piñas apartment of a woman, who is allegedly the cohort of a Chinese national in the ₱2.5-billion drug bust in Makati City Tuesday night.

Authorities are now hunting down Melanie Salem, the tenant of an apartment on F. Manalo St., Golden Acres Subdivision, Talon 5, Las Piñas City.

Salem is the alleged partner of Joel Bustamante, who was

arrested in a drug sting Wednesday and admitted being the drug courier of Chinese national Liu Chao, the police said.

Chao was arrested Tuesday night after police raided his apartment in Makati City where some ₱2.5-billion shabu was stored and appeared ready for distribution.

Col. Segundo Lagundi Jr., Las Piñas City Police chief, told Manila

Bulletin that members of Las Piñas police Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PNPDEG) raided Salem’s apartment after getting a tip Friday from a friend of Lt. Gen. Camilo Cascolan, the Philippine National Police Deputy Chief for Operations.

“Yung may-ari ng apartment, tumawag kay Gen. Cascolan. Eh, si Gen. Cascolan naman, tumawag sa amin (The owner of the apartment called Gen. Cascolan who in turn informed us),” Lagundi said.

“Kasi napanood niya na ‘yung nahuli na dalawang drug suspect noong Miyerkules. Eh, yung isa doon, ‘yun din ang nakatira sa apartment niya (The owner saw on TV the arrest of the two drug suspects and recognized one as her renter),” he added.

After receiving the information, Lagundi immediately prepared his men, sought assistance from the PNPDEG and coordinated with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

“Prine-pare ko yung SWAT ko and then yung drug enforcement group ng Crame (I prepared my SWAT and the drug enforcement group at Crame),” he added.

Members of the SWAT led the raid as explosive devices might be inside the house.

“When the area was cleared, that was the time we entered the place,” the police chief said.

Seized during the Saturday dawn raid were at least 64 packs of shabu – 59 of which were concealed in Chinese tea packs while five were still packed in their original, high-quality plastic weighing 67 kilos.

Lagundi said according to the apartment owner, Salem – who had been renting the house for two months – no longer appeared following the arrest of Bustamante Wednesday.

Salem’s live-in partner and Merwin Bustamante were arrested by police in a buy-bust operation on C-5 Extension in Barangay Manuyo, Las Piñas. They yielded ₱115 million worth of shabu.