2 agents arrested; P9.18M shabu seized
A Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) district chief, two agents and a driver were arrested by joint PNP and PDEA operatives in a buy-bust operation in their office in Taguig City last Tuesday night.
The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) identified the suspects as PDEA Southern District Office (SDO) chief Enrique Lucero, PDEA agents Anthony Vic Alabastro and Jaireh Llaguno, and Mark Warren Mallo, the personal driver of Lucero.
Southern Police District Director Brig. Gen. Kirby John Kraft said the four were nabbed by operatives of the NCRPO’s Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU), Southern Police District, and PDEA-National Capital Region at around 9 p.m. inside the PDEA-SOU office in Upper Bicutan, Taguig City.
Seized from them were 1.35 kilos of suspected shabu worth P9.18 million, the buy-bust money, four firearms, and a digital weighing scale.
The suspects are detained at the NCRPO-RDEU office at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City while charges are being prepared against them.
PDEA chief Moro Virgillo Lazo said it was unfortunate that PDEA members were arrested for peddling illegal drugs, considering the agency is leading the renewed war against illegal drugs under the Marcos administration.
“Of course, it’s saddening,” Lazo said. “Unfortunately, things happened…They are going to be held accountable, if that is the end result of the investigation.”
From July 1 to November 24 this year, 24,159 suspects have been arrested and P10 billion worth of illegal drugs have been seized.
“What we did was to coordinate with the Philippine National Police to help us in our campaign against illegal drugs… And we agreed that there will be no sacred cows,” said Lazo.
Kraft said the operation showed the anti-illegal drugs campaign will go after anyone involved, including law enforcers.
In a statement, PDEA said the buy-bust operation that resulted in the arrest of Lucero and his men was a “testimony to the strong partnership between PDEA and PNP.
“The operation was properly coordinated with PDEA, an indispensable requirement before drug law enforcement units can carry-out anti-drug operations,” PDEA said.
It said the PDEA-PNP alliance “stands on solid ground and remains committed as ever,” adding the alliance, built on trust and confidence, “continues to bear fruit.”
PDEA also said it has launched an internal investigation into the involvement of its men in illegal drugs.
“PDEA is doing an internal investigation to get to the bottom of the case and determine the ones culpable. PDEA is also shoring up its internal counter-intelligence efforts within its ranks to preserve the agency’s integrity and moral ascendancy to serve the public,” the agency said. — With Ashzel Hachero
