A PHILIPPINE National Police Drug Enforcement Group (PNP-DEG)-led anti-narcotics operation in Cainta, Rizal on Thursday afternoon led to the discovery of a small ‘kitchen-type’ shabu laboratory and the seizure of more than P10 million worth of the so-called ‘poor man’s cocaine’ and Ecstasy, PNP chief, General Debold M. Sinas announced yesterday.
The top cop said the Cainta, Rizal operation also triggered a follow-up sting in Manila which ended up in a shootout and left a suspected ‘main player’ of the syndicate dead while another is still being hunted.
Sinas said members of the Special Operations Unit 3 of the PNP-DEG headed by Brigadier Gen. Ronald O. Lee, with the assistance of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Cainta Municipal Police Station, first arrested a 30-year old curriculum developer named Khrystin Pimentel, resident of 163 Diamond Street, Doña Luisa Village in Ecoland, Davao City during the sting at Unit C 9029 Kabisig Street, Block 1 in Floodway, Barangay San Andres in Cainta around 3 p.m. Thursday.
He said that recovered from the suspect were 2,000 pieces of suspected Ecstasy tablets valued at P3.4 million, 10 small plastic packets containing around 500 grams of Kush, a high-grade marijuana derivative worth P60,000 and at least a kilo of shabu worth P6.8 million.
“It was in the residence of the suspect in Cainta where PNP-DEG officers discovered a suspected kitchen-type clandestine shabu laboratory for the processing of the drugs,” said Gen. Sinas.
A record check showed the arrested suspect had allegedly been a drug user since her college days in Davao City until she transferred to Quezon City where she worked as a trainer at a local call center in 2015, the PNP-DEG said.
Brig. Gen. Lee said they found out that in January last year, the woman became the live-in partner of a Filipino-American named Jose Aguilar alias ‘Ish’ who turned out to have been deported to the Philippines after being involved in a drug case.
Aguilar was reported to have continued his illicit drug activities in the country catering mostly to foreign nationals and some Filipino friends.
“We have received reports that the two suspects have used the Lalamove delivery service to deliver drugs to their contacts,” Lee said.
The PNP-DEG director said a follow-up operation to get Aguilar in Ermita, Manila around 12:20 a.m. yesterday ended up in a shootout which led to the killing of another main target identified only as alias ‘Kuya.’
He said that the suspects conspired to sell shabu to an undercover officer along Riverside Drive in Lawton, Ermita but apparently sensed they were dealing with a policeman. As a result, the suspect identified as alias ‘Kuya’ fired a shot at the poseur prompting back-up operatives to retaliate killing him on the spot.
‘Ish’ Aguilar managed to escape on board an SUV during the sting and is still being hunted as of press time, said Lee.
Recovered during the Ermita sting were 800 tablets of the designer drug called ‘Ecstasy’ worth P1.360 million, two heat-sealed plastic sachets containing an estimated 50 grams of shau valued at P340,000, a chamber-loaded caliber .45 pistol with a magazine containing several live ammunition and the boodle money topped by some marked bills.
Lee said the Ermita operation was conducted by the Manila Police District Station 5 under Lieutenant Colonel Ariel Caramoan, the PNP-DEG Special Operations Unit 3 headed by Lt. Col. Glenn Gonzales and Lt. Hazel Mabilin and the National Capital Region Police Office Regional Special Operations Unit and Regional Intelligence Division under Brig. Gen. Vicente D. Danao Jr.
The official said the two suspects are known illegal drug traffickers in Metro Manila and its surrounding areas like Rizal province. “We found out that the two also habitually frequented the raided kitchen-type shabu laboratory in Cainta. The information we got is that Aguilar only makes his transaction thru the suspect known as ‘Kuya,” said Brig. Gen. Lee.
