PNP anti-drug unit tagged in recycling shabu grounded

Members of an anti-drug unit of one of the five police districts in Metro Manila were ordered “grounded” after an alleged drug pusher who yielded 30 kilos of shabu, with an estimated street value of P145 million, claimed that the illegal drugs came from police officers.

Camp Crame sources said a top Philippine National Police ( PNP) official ordered the anti-drug unit not to conduct operations against illegal drugs while Ariel Ajido, 33, is being investigated.

Senior Superintendent Andy Suan, executive officer of the Anti-Illegal Drug Group (AIDG) said Ajido backtracked and refused to cooperate in the probe.

“We could not get information from him anymore because he clamped down,” Suan said.

Ajido earlier claimed that his job was to set up the “arrest” of prospective shabu buyers so the case could be recorded as “police accomplishment.”

But he said only half of the shabu seized during the stings would be declared by the anti-drug unit. The rest of the illegal drugs would be recycled for distribution in Metro Manila, Ajido claimed.

Suan said they failed to get the confession of Ajido on record so they could go after the members of the anti-drug unit.

Ajido was arrested in a raid on his house at Dream Ville Subdivision in Barangay Carsading in Imus, Cavite last month.

During interrogation, Ajido admitted that he worked for a drug ring operated by a Chinese.

He said his job was to deliver shabu to prospective buyers.

Ajido said police had arrested him in a drug sting. He claimed police officers set him free after he accepted the offer to be a “police asset.”

According to Suan, Ajido was visited by his lawyer in his detention cell and advised to shut up.

The activities of the anti- drug unit reportedly reached the attention of incoming PNP director Chief Superintendent Ronald de la Rosa.