Chinese nabbed in Binondo drug bust

The Manila police arrested a Chinese man, believed to be a member of an international drug ring, in a buy-bust operation in Binondo, Manila Friday night.

Samson Tan, 30, of Soler street, Binondo, could neither speak nor write in English and Filipino, according to Meisic police station chief Superintendent Nelson Yabut, who believes the suspect used a fictitious name during his arrest.

After coordinating with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, anti-drugs operatives of the Meisic police station led by Senior Inspector Harris Ebes conducted a buy-bust operation in front of a coffee shop at the corner of Reina Regente and Juan Luna streets following a drug deal transacted by a police informant.

Tan and the informant conversed in Chinese before the former approached a policeman posing as a buyer of illegal drugs. After receiving the marked money, the suspect handed the policeman a small plastic sachet of a white crystalline substance suspected to be methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.

However, the suspect sensed the presence of policemen and ran towards Divisoria. Lawmen caught up with Tan, who yielded another sachet of suspected shabu.

Yabut said laboratory tests showed the substance recovered from Tan as a high-grade variety of shabu.

The police believe Tan belongs to a triad dealing in illegal drugs due to an elaborate dragon tattoo that covers his entire back and coils down his right arm. “Only the top men of the triad sport this kind of tattoo,” Yabut said.

Police are digging into Tan’s background to determine his links to international drug syndicates. “He refused to talk but we will exert all efforts to trace his supply of this A-1 grade of shabu,” Yabut said.

Charges of illegal sale and possession of dangerous drugs are being prepared against the suspect.