3 suspects arrested, P7.5-worth of illegal drugs seized

POLICE arrested on August 1 in Quezon City three suspects who yielded at least P7.5-million worth of illegal drugs, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Director Guilermo Eleazar said Thursday, August 2.

The arrested suspects were live-in partners Hazel Grace Lanugan and Rafael Tadoran, both 21 years old, and Warren Calicdan, 34.

Eleazar said Calicdan was arrested in a drug bust conducted by combined personnel of the Northern Police District (NPD), District Drug Enforcement Unit (DDEU), Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), and Quezon City Police District (QCPD) on Tomas Morato Avenue in Quezon City around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 1.

During his arrest, Calicdan, who sold two tablets of ecstasy worth P3,000 to a poseur buyer, said he was just instructed by Lanugan and Tadoran to deliver the package, which he thought was grocery items to a customer in the area.

The police then conducted a follow-up operation in Lanugan’s residence in Tomas Morato, Barangay Obrero, Quezon City, which resulted in her and Tadoran’s arrest.

Recovered inside Lanugan’s house were 2,756 pieces of ecstasy tablets with an estimated market value of P4,685,200, 248 pieces of ecstasy capsules worth approximately P620,000, suspected liquid ecstasy worth P1,450,000, and at least 100 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) with estimated street value of P680,000.

Eleazar said the arrested suspects admitted supplying party drugs in various bars in Quezon City and other areas.

He said that according to Lanugan, their illegal contrabands came from China, which is being shipped in the country through courier services.

Eleazar said the police and the PDEA will conduct an in-depth investigation on the matter to identify the source of the illegal drugs.

The arrested suspects and pieces of evidence recovered were brought to NPD-DDEU office for proper disposition and for filing of cases against the suspects for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo/SunStar Philippines)