₱2.8-M ecstasy nasabat

Police seized some ₱2.8 million worth of party drugs or ecstasy and arrested four suspects, including a Filipina live-in partner of a detained Dutch national, in a series of drug stings in Makati and Pasay cities.

The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) announced yesterday the recovery of about ₱2,790,000 worth of ecstacy in two succeeding buy-bust operations in Makati City and Pasay City, Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

QCPD director Senior Supt. Guillermo Eleazar in a press briefing yesterday identified the arrested as Arvie Cabayacruz, 26 of Tramo St., Barangay Caingin, Bacoor City, Cavite; Maria Ronela Evangelista, 29; Joseph Areogapita, 36; and Maureen Bermejo, 41, all of Makati City.

Eleazar said joint operatives of the District Anti-Illegal Drugs (DAID) and District Special Operations Unit (DSOU) conducted their first operation about 5 a.m. on October 3, on Alonzo St. in Brgy. West Rembo, Makati City.

During the said operation, Evangelista, Areogapita, and Bermejo yielded two medium sachets containing 200 small blue ecstacy tablets, known as cookie monster with an estimated value of at least ₱300,000 and a small sachet of shabu amounting to about ₱3,000.

Eleazar said a follow-up operation was launched the next day against Cabayacruz, who was tagged by the three as their supplier.

The woman agreed to meet with police poseur-buyers around 2:30 p.m. at a fastfood chain on Roxas Blvd Service Road in Brgy 76, Zone 10, Pasay City.

Police found out that Cabayacruz, was the live-in partner of Dutch national Martin Frederik De Jong who was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) last June 3 in Makati City. He is now detained at the Makati City Jail.

Confiscated from Cabayacruz were two medium sachets also containing a total 200 tablets of cookie monster valued at ₱300,000, a phone, and the ₱100,000 boodle money.

At about 4:00 p.m. on same day, operatives raided Cabayacruz’s home in Bacoor, Cavite, where they discovered a total 1,460 small blue tablets contained in a suitcase reportedly owned by De Jong.

Eleazar said the two operations stemmed from persistent reports about rampant distribution of party drugs in Eastwood, Quezon City, involving a foreign national.

Since the ecstasy recovered were all of the same kind, police believed that the illegal drug came from one source, apparently De Jong and Cabayacruz.

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