‘Betrayal’ leads to drug bust; Chinese duo, 2 Filipinos nabbed
Methamphetamine hyrdochloride or “shabu”. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Two Chinese nationals were arrested along with two Filipinos Thursday night in Quezon City for allegedly selling two kilos of high-grade methamphetamine hyrdochloride or “shabu” to undercover policemen.
The Chinese woman, Mao Yuaning, 49, arrived in the country on a tourist visa from Hubei, China, on September 14 based on her passport, according to the Quezon City Police District. Ong Kieng Yok alias Yang, believed to be Mao’s boyfriend, could not produce travel documents when arrested.
Also held were Filipinos Somagana Bocare, 26, a farmer from Lanao del Sur province, and Manan Jalal, 33, a businessman from Pangasinan, the QCPD said.
The four were cornered in a buy-bust operation by members of the QCPD anti-illegal drugs task group led by Senior Insp. Roberto Razon in front of a hotel at the corner of Banawe and Sta. Catalina Streets in La Loma.
The task group acted on a tip concerning the suspects’ activities from a male Filipino-Chinese, who turned out to be a former cohort of the suspects, Razon said.
The tipster apparently betrayed his partners after being denied his share of the money from the group’s last transaction, the officer added. The information which the QCPD received on Sept. 19 was later confirmed by other police sources.
“The informant only told us that there were two Chinese nationals involved. There was no mention of the Filipinos,” Razon told reporters on Friday.
QCPD members posing as buyers transacted with the Chinese couple, who were then inside a Toyota Vios driven by Jalal. Bocare was also in the car.
When offered P1 million, the Chinese allegedly produced half a kilo of shabu which they priced at P1.65 million.
“The idea was to give them P1 million and (convince them that) we would sell the drugs in retail or on consignment. We would then owe them P650,000 which we will pay later,” Razon said.
The rest of the police team swooped down on the car when the Chinese sealed the deal and accepted the “boodle cash” or wads of scrap paper layered on top with real peso bills.
More bags of shabu were later found in the car. “With the amount of drugs that they had with them, we suppose that the rest of the shabu was meant for another transaction with another group,” Razon said.
