THREE men were arrested by authorities on Thursday, November 9, following a buy bust that resulted to the confiscation of P240,000 worth of dried marijuana leaves.
Chief of Police Inspector Louie Gonzaga identified the suspects as Christian Angelo Caluag, 24, from Barangay Calulut in City of San Fernando, Kenneth France Orallo, 25, from Bulacan, and Marc Rene Tolentino, 31, from Imus Cavite.
They yielded total of 16 rolls and two bricks of dried marijuana leaves.
They were arrested near the NLex San Simon exit in Barangay Sta. Ana, Thursday dawn.
Gonzaga said an undercover police agent was able to purchase a roll of dried marijuana leaves from the suspects in exchange for P1,000 marked money.
But during the arrest, the suspects yielded 15 more rolls and two bricks of suspected marijuana leaves with a total weight of six kilograms amounting to some P240,000.
“These guys have long been a subject of monitoring and surveillance. We have studied their schemes properly before launching this operation to ensure that they will once and for all be apprehended,” he said.
Asked for the modus of the suspects, Gonzaga revealed that the trio source their illegal products somewhere from the Cordillera region and delivers it to Metro Manila, but conducts a quick stop-over in Pampanga.
“As you can see on the venue of the transaction, it is just around the NLEx exit. Their scheme is to just deal with their suppliers here prior and then drop the items quickly before delivering the remaining illegal drugs to Metro Manila,” he narrated.
He, however, said that police operatives are still locating the suspects’ suppliers in San Simon and in other parts of Pampanga as well as their usual buyers.
“We are already monitoring several personalities but we have yet to confirm their involvement in illegal drugs. Most of these are actually young adults and are employed under the BPO (business process outsourcing) industry,” he said.