PDEA operatives collar female pusher with 0.85 grams of shabu

By Philippine Information Agency (PIA 8)
May 11, 2012

TACLOBAN CITY  –  A 40-year old mother of four children will be spending Mother’s Day at the lock up cell of the Tacloban City Police Office following her arrest for selling and possessing a total of 0.85 grams of shabu by PDA Region 8 operatives on May 3, 2012.

PDEA Region 8 Information Officer Liza Baoy identified the arrested shabu pusher as Grace Suarez y Gaspe who was collared at the downtown Tacloban City for selling illegal drugs.

Acting on persistent reports from confidential informants that Suarez was engaged in the sale of dangerous drugs particularly shabu in the commercial areas in the city and at her place of residence at Barangay 66A, Anibong, Tacloban City, the PDEA enforcement teams assembled an operational plan against the subject to verify such reports.

Once the information was adequately substantiated, an entrapment operation was conducted on May 3, 2012 resulting in her arrest.

Ms. Baoy said that Suarez was caught selling 0.395 grams of shabu to a PDEA agent who acted as a poseur buyer in a transaction for two thousand pesos, for which she was subsequently arrested.

After the fact of her arrest had been announced and she had been informed of her Constitutional rights, a body search was conducted where she yielded an additional two (2) large transparent plastic packages (“sachets”) of shabu totaling 0.458 grams.

Ms. Baoy said that PDEA will continue in its fight against the proliferation of the illegal drugs in the region which include the conduct of information campaign on the ill-effects of using illegal drugs aside from their continued operations against those involved in the illicit trade.

It was learned that majority of the drug users from the region are using shabu or hydrochloride methamphetamine. The easy access to shabu could be the reason why it appears to be the favorite among illegal drug users, next to marijuana which is actually lower in price than shabu.