2-DAY OPERATIONS NET 54 DRUG SUSPECTS, 84 ‘SHABU’ SACHETS
The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) recorded 54 arrests and zero deaths in a series of operations conducted over a two-day period which also resulted in the seizure of 84 sachets of “shabu” or crystal meth.
The large-scale roundup of suspects was conducted by eight police stations and drug enforcement units within a 48-hour period. The first arrest was made at 12:05 a.m. on Feb. 23 while the last was carried out at 9:30 p.m. on Feb. 24.
The other arrests were made by policemen from the Masambong, Novaliches, Project 4, Cubao, Kamuning and Galas stations during the mostly antidrug operations done in line with the “Upper Barrel” component of the national police’s “Project Double Barrel.”
Jeepney barkers yield shabu
Members of the Kamuning police station apprehended three drug suspects at 1:30 p.m. on Friday in Barangay Paligsahan. Initially accosted for violating a city ordinance that bans jeepney barkers from “no loading and unloading” zones, Jerick Leonador, Junskee Gar- alde and Rafael Makidez yielded three sachets of shabu.
At 6 p.m. on Feb. 24, Batasan policemen who were on patrol accosted a man in Barangay Payatas for driving a motorcycle without a helmet. But when frisked, Mark Paolo San Pedro, 27, yielded two sachets of shabu and a knife.
That same day, Talipapa policemen who were also on patrol chanced upon a group of men engaged in illegal gambling in Barangay Bahay Toro.
Two of them, Saturnino Lopez, 67, and Michael Molleda, 36, were arrested after they were caught with a sachet of shabu and a knife. The rest ran away, thus evading arrest.
Drug charges readied
All 54 suspects will be charged with violating Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
QCPD director, Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, said the spike in the number of arrests was a coincidence and not part of any intensified antidrug operations. He told the Inquirer that some of the stations caught more suspects because these were engaged in “pot sessions” in drug dens.