Life term for shabu dealer

A Quezon City judge sentenced a 63-year-old Chinese national to life imprisonment after the court found him guilty of selling 995.1 grams of shabu in a buy-bust operation in 1998.

Judge Jose Mendoza of Regional Trial Court Branch 219 to pay a fine of P2 million for violating Section 15 of Article III of Republic Act 6245.

Lee was arrested by operatives of the Western Police District (WPD) during a buy-bust operation on May 8, 1998 at the LRL Apartelle on Chico street, Project 2, Quezon City where 760.1 grams of shabu were confiscated.

PO2 Antonio Marcos posed as a buyer and met with Lee at Room 32 of the apartelle for the drug transaction after lawmen received information about the accused illegal activities.

Mendoza sentenced Lee’s accomplice Vanessa Padilla, of 2125-C Paraiso street, Tondo, Manila to 14 years in jail.

Lee denied the charges against him, claiming he was a businessman engaged in selling spare parts of scooters and other motor vehicles.

The accused said he accompanied Padilla to the apartelle to meet someone but he was surprised when policemen arrested him without an arrest warrant.

However, Mendoza junked his defense and gave credence to the testimonies of Marcos. – Pia Lee-Brago