Government agents arrested five people suspected of engaging in manufacturing illegal drugs, some of which found their way in a Pasay City concert event, and seized a “kitchen-type laboratory” equipment during a raid in a condominium in Parañaque City Tuesday.
The arrest came a few days after the apprehension of suspected drug peddler Joshua Habalo during a buy-bust operation inside a hotel in Pasay City, according to Joel Tovera, head of the National Bureau of Investigation’s Anti-Illegal Drugs Division.
“I still have to find the word to describe what kind of syndicate the five individuals we have arrested. But before their arrest, there was a successful buy-bust operation of one of their members,” said Tovera in a press conference at the NBI headquarters on Taft Avenue, Manila.
Habalo, however, denied any involvement in the Pasay City concert event.
The five suspects, according to the NBI, might also be responsible for the death of five concert goers, including an American national, who attended the CloseUp Forever event in an open parking area at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City last month.
Tovera said the result of the latest operation was consistent with the new psychoactive substances they have seized from Habalo’s possession.
The agency confiscated from the suspects several capsules of ecstasy, sachets of cocaine, marijuana, other tablets and drug paraphernalia including a gas mask, pipes, and a bag of empty capsules used in manufacturing mixed drugs.
Also recovered from the suspects was the marked money used in the sting operation.
The suspects are now held at the NBI detention center and will be charged with the sale and manufacturing illegal drugs and possession of equipment used in manufacturing illegal drugs.
The NBI is conducting a parallel investigation with the Special Investigation Task Group, which is composed of personnel from the National Capital Region Police Office, Southern Police District and Pasay City Police.
Appalled at the concert deaths, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte scolded the authorities for the failure of intelligence” and vowed a top-to-bottom shakeup of the National Police and other agencies.