5 top drug suspects in Taguig arrested

MANILA, Philippines - Five of the most wanted drug personalities in Taguig City have been arrested as the city government intensified its drive against illegal drugs.

Police said among those arrested was Richard Silvestre, who was ranked fourth in the list of most wanted drug traffickers in the city.

Silvestre was nabbed along with six others during a police operation over the weekend. Forty grams of shabu worth P200,000 were recovered from them.

Prior to this, police had arrested the second, fifth, seventh and eighth most wanted drug target suspects in Taguig.

Taguig police chief Senior Superintendent Arthur Felix Asis said 114 suspected drug traffickers and users were arrested in the first half of the year, an increase of almost 70 percent compared to the same period last year.

Asis said a total of 213 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu and 38 grams of marijuana were confiscated in drug busts in the first six months of the year.

Mayor Lani Cayetano lauded the police efforts against illegal drugs.

“This is a victory worth mentioning because as we put more pushers behind bars, we take more illegal drugs off the streets,” Cayetano said.

“Illegal drugs have no place in our community. I commend the Taguig police for such exemplary work,” she added.

Cayetano noted that Taguig was previously known as a “hotspot” for illegal drugs.