Quezon City: Police apprehended an alleged drug courier and seized an estimated PHP2.2 million worth of illegal drugs in an operation in Quezon City on Tuesday night. In a statement Wednesday, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Director Col. Melecio Buslig Jr., identified the suspect as 29-year-old Lemuel Lucero, a resident of Pasay City, who was collared in a buy-bust along Commonwealth Avenue in Barangay Batasan Hills shortly before 7 p.m.

According to Philippines News Agency, a police officer posed as a buyer during the transaction and bought PHP48,000 worth of shabu from the suspect. Upon receiving the pre-arranged signal, the suspect was immediately arrested. Confiscated from Lucero were 300 grams of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of PHP2.04 million, 140 grams of kush (high-grade marijuana) worth PHP210,000, a cellular phone, a black sling bag, and buy-bust money. The suspect will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

In a relat
ed development, PNP Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) chief Brig. Gen. Eleazar Matta reported that a 34-year-old Filipino woman was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 in Pasay City after being caught carrying kush. Matta stated that the operation took place at the Customs International Arrival Area inside the airport at about 11 a.m. Wednesday.

The suspect had arrived from Bangkok, Thailand and was found possessing two vacuum-sealed plastic packs containing dried leaves, suspected to be kush. The contraband, concealed inside a plastic marble pot, weighed approximately 1.1 kg. with an estimated street value of PHP1.54 million. The seized drug evidence was inventoried, marked, photographed, and immediately submitted to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Laboratory Service for laboratory analysis.

The operation was part of the efforts of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport – Interagency Drug Interdiction Task Group, of which the PDEG is a member agency.