Death for marijuana

A Malabon City judge yesterday meted the death penalty to a big-time drug pusher and a life term to his cohort after they were caught with some 25 kilos of marijuana bricks in a buy-bust operation by police anti-narcotics operatives in March this year.

Eduardo Limpin, 24, single, jobless, of 42 University Avenue, Potrero, Malabon, who is to die by legal injection, was also given life imprisonment for illegal possession of a kilo of dried marijuana leaves.

His co-accused, Ricky America, 32, single, jobless, also of the same place, was sentenced to life imprisonment for illegal possession of some two kilos of dried marijuana bricks.

In a 15-page decision, Judge Benjamin Aquino (Branch 72) also directed Limpin to pay a fine of P15 million for the two cases. America was ordered to pay a fine of P5 million for his case.

Court records showed that Limpin and America were apprehended by elements of the Northern Police District-Drug Enforcement Unit during a buy-bust operation last March 15 in front of their house.

Police managed to close a deal with the accused after a police informant tipped them off of the duo’s illegal activities. Limpin was arrested while handing over a kilo of dried marijuana worth P1,500 to a police poseur-buyer.

After a search was made at Limpin’s house, some 22 kilos of marijuana wrapped in newspaper in a styropor box were found by the police team while two kilos of the prohibited drug were also seized from America.

The two denied the charges in open court with the alibi that they were framed up by the police and that the dried marijuana, believed to have come from Mt. Province, was planted on them.

Aquino junked the defense after finding sufficient evidence against the two to convict them.