2 nabbed in P2.5-M shabu sting in QC

Two suspected drug dealers were arrested and P2.5 million worth of shabu were seized by Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) operatives in Quezon City yesterday.

Mongcao Basaula Sabino and Saima Diambangan Mipandong were arrested at around 10 a.m. at the parking lot of a shopping mall in Barangay Pasong Putik, PDEA spokesman Derrick Carreon said in a text message.

Sabino and Mipandong were the subjects of a twoweek surveillance before their arrest.

PDEA agents arrested them after they received P1.2 million in marked money from an operative posing as a drug buyer.

Seized from their possession are approximately 500 grams of shabu with an estimated street value of P2.5 million, a Toyota Revo and a cell phone.

According to Investigation Agent 5 Christy Silvan, acting deputy director of the PDEA Special Enforcement Service, the narcotics were about to be brought somewhere in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) when a confidential informant convinced the suspects to sell the drugs in Metro Manila.

“They get their items here to be distributed in ARMM,” Silvan said in a news briefing.

In an interview with reporters, Sabino said a minor who was instructed by his contact, whom he did not identify, gave him the drugs at around 7 a.m. yesterday.

“I don’t know where the child came from,” said Sabino.

On Thursday, PDEA agents arrested two people and seized P2.5 million worth of shabu at around 9 a.m. in front of another shopping mall in Barangay Pasong Putik.

Around 500 grams of shabu were confiscated from Sahara Abal Abdurahman and Lim Akik Abdullah, both natives of Jolo, Sulu.

Eighteen other drug suspects in Quezon City, two in Pasig and one in Marikina were arrested in the past two days.