Include DILG, PNP In Probe - Miriam Six team members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) were relieved of their duties yesterday for their alleged failure to detect the existence of a "shabu market" that was discovered by a police raiding team in Pasig City last week. Undersecretary Anselmo Avenido Jr., PDEA executive director, yesterday ordered the six PDEA team members to undergo investigation for possible neglect of duty following the discovery of the shabu den on E. Soriano St., Sitio Mapayapa, Barangay Santo Tomas in Pasig City. [continues 612 words]
Plantation Believed Owned By NPA Rebels Elements of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) uprooted some 500,000 marijuana plants valued at some R100 million in a plantation in Benguet believed to be owned by New People's Army (NPA) rebels. Director Marcelo Ele Jr., AID-SOTF director, stated in his report that his men discovered the marijuana plantation at a far-flung area some 7,120 feet above sea level at the tri-boundaries of Benguet, Mt. Province, and Ifugao. [continues 247 words]
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) announced yesterday the arrest of a former town mayor of Mangatarem, Pangasinan after PDEA operatives recovered from him shabu during a drug bust in Dagupan City. Undersecretary Anselmo Avenido, director general of PDEA, identified the arrested suspect as Jassie Punzal, former mayor of Mangatarem, Pangasinan who was listed in the PDEA as among the drug traffickers in Pangasinan. He was arrested by elements of the PDEA Regional Office 1 in Sitio Sabangan, barangay Bunuan, Dagupan City. [continues 184 words]
Interior and Local Government Secretary Angelo T. Reyes, also chief of the National Anti-Kidnapping Task Force (NAKTAF), announced yesterday the arrest of five agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and a personnel of the Bureau of Fire for their alleged involvement in kidnapping, extortion and robbery activities. In a press conference at the NAKTAF Headquaters at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, Reyes identified the arrested suspects as Elmer Avancena, Jaime Popioco, Eric Nazareno, Gil Grefaldeo and Nolasco Taytay, all agents of the PDEA. [continues 82 words]
Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) have arrested a former player of a university basketball team during a drug-bust operation in Manila. PDEA Executive Director Anselmo Avenido identified the arrested suspect as Foster Maraye, a former player who saw action in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) in the 1990s. The former player, who is now 26 years old and jobless, yielded about R400,000 worth of shabu, or around 200 grams of the illegal substance. Avenido said that Maraye was arrested at a restaurant inside a mall at around 4 p.m. The suspect is now detained at the PDEA office in Quezon City while charges of violation of the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 have been filed against Maraye. [end]
Deputy Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., newly designated officer-in-charge of the Philippine National Police (PNP), batted yesterday for the establishment of a Council of Community Elders to promote consultations with the civilian sector as part of a multi-approach to combatting criminality in the country. Ebdane also batted for the retention of the National Anti-Kidnaping Task Force (NAKTAF) despite a recent order from President Arroyo to disband the group along with the National AntiCrime Commission and other task forces in the PNP. [continues 442 words]
Agents of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF) have arrested a police officer and two of his men during an anti-illegal drugs operation involving some 124 kilos of shabu worth P246 million in San Juan, Ilocos Sur. Reports reaching the Philippine National Police (PNP) Central Operations Center at Camp Crame, Quezon City identified the arrested suspects as Chief Inspector Rey Arcangel, SPO4 Victorio Malabed Jr. and SPO3 William Villanueva, all detailed at the PNP Maritime Group also based in Camp Crame. [continues 449 words]
The execution of drug trafficker Lim Seng by musketry 26 years ago during martial law shook the country and, for a while, practically put an end to the drug problem, which affected some 350,000 people during that period based on estimates by the then Philippine Constabulary. The end only needed seven caliber .30 bullets from M-1 rifles pumped into Lim's chest at 6 a.m. of Jan. 15, 1973. Today, the country is anxious to see the execution of another Lim Seng. There are 40 drug traffickers among more than 800 death convicts awaiting their turns in the lethal injection chamber at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City. [continues 359 words]
