2 notorious drug pushers nabbed in Marikina

Police arrested two notorious drug pushers and seized some 300 grams of shabu worth P600,000 during a buy-bust operation in Marikina City yesterday.

The suspects, Abdulmanan Gumaga, 46, Abdullah Usman, 30, both natives of Marawi City and residents of Barangay Concepcion Uno, gave themselves up peacefully to the men of Chief Superintendent Eduardo Matillano, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

Gumaga and Usman yielded 300 grams of high grade shabu as well as the P100,000 "show money."

Matillano earlier directed Senior Superintendent Cipriano Querol Jr., head of the CIDG Detection and Special Operations Division, to get Gumaga and Usman amid reports that the duo openly sold shabu not only in their neighborhood but in nearby barangays.

After a one-week surveillance, Querol, in coordination with agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), were able to strike a deal with the suspects for the purchase of 300 grams of shabu.

A police officer acting as buyer waited at the corner of J.P. Rizal and Tumana Streets at 8:30 a.m. to meet Gumaga and Usman.

The duo immediately asked to see the cash and later took out a plastic bag containing the 300 grams of shabu. Receiving a signal from undercover agent, police officers arrested Gumaga and Usman.

Both men admitted their role in the proliferation of illegal drugs in Barangay Concepcion Uno and nearby barangays, Querol said.

During tactical interrogation, the suspects said they get their shabu supply from Muslim communities in Pasig city and Taguig. The suspects were later turned over to PDEA agents.

Meanwhile, two Nigerians in the business of falsifying traveler’s checks have been arrested by the Tourist Protection Unit (TPU) of the Makati Police in separate operations.

Chief Inspector Monica Castro, head of the TPU, identified the suspects as Kevin Onovo alias Harari Tomokon, 29, married to a Filipina and a resident of Malate, Manila and Philip Ubi Onihana, a resident of Bacoor, Cavite.

Onovo was apprehended while trying to check in at the Manila Peninsula Hotel at the Ayala Center using an American Express traveler’s check worth $1,000.

The Nigerian attempted to check in under the name of Tomokon as indicated in his Canadian passport.

Security personnel of the hotel contacted American Express and discovered that the check was falsified.

After the Makati TPU was called in, Onovo admitted to falsifying the check and revealed his true identify.

Investigation conducted by the Makati police revealed that Onovo had long been engaged in the illegal practice, and that he had a partner.

Follow-up operations resulted in the capture of Onihana in Bacoor, Cavite where he was renting an apartment. Both suspects have been charged with falsification of commercial documents. – With Marvin Sy