Card game using shabu bets busted in Mandaluyong

Talk about a high-stakes game.

The Mandaluyong City police arrested the other night four persons using shabu as bets in a popular card game.

Suspects Teresita Corong, 37; Rhodora Sison, 33; Reynaldo Rivera, 34, and Juanito Riberta, 45, all from Sto. Rosario St., Barangay Plainview, did not resist arrest when caught by a police team at 7:50 p.m.

They yielded seven sachets of shabu, drug sniffing paraphernalia and two sets of playing cards.

Police said a concerned citizen tipped them off on an ongoing card game popularly known as "tong-its" in Barangay Plainview, where the players were using shabu as bets. The players, the male caller said, were also intermittently sniffing the illegal drug.

After catching the suspects in the act of playing "tong-its" inside 248 Sto. Rosario Street, the raiders recovered seven sachets of shabu on the playing table. Five strips of aluminum foil with traces of shabu residue were also found.

The suspects admitted using shabu as bets when they run out of cash, police said.

During tactical interrogation, the suspects also pointed to a certain Jaime Regalario, 52, as their source of shabu.

A follow-up operation resulted in the arrest of Regalario in his house on Fabella Street, Barangay Mauway. Two of his alleged cohorts identified as Efren Martinez and Bobby Nanos were also arrested.

Police are set to file illegal gambling and illegal possession of illegal drugs against Corong, Sison, Rivera and Riberta. Regalario and his two companions are still undergoing tactical interrogation.– Non Alquitran