Lady PDEA agent, 2 drug suspects hurt in car crash

MANILA, Philippines - A female agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and two suspected drug pushers were injured in a test-buy operation in Cavite, the agency said Thursday.

PDEA director general Arturo Cacdac Jr. said agent Jennifer Quintana and two suspects identified as Pundato Bao, 29; and Joyce Almaden Merillo, 22, residents of Dasmariñas, Cavite were hurt during the operation.

They were immediately brought to a nearby hospital for treatment, Cacdac said.

Reports showed that anti-narcotics agents conducted a test-buy operation last June 15 along I. Mangubat Street corner Don Placido Campos Avenue to validate the information received by the operating unit that the suspects are capable of disposing a big volume of shabu.

Along with Quintana, the confidential informant transacted with the suspects inside a white Hyundai sedan parked along I. Mangubat Street.

During the transaction, the suspects' vehicle sped toward Barangay Datu Ismael area.

Sensing that something went wrong, the back-up team gave chase and blocked the sedan’s path with the rest of the team alighting from their vehicle. Instantly, the suspects' sedan, in high gear, made a reverse and hit a parked delivery truck.

Despite the crash, the vehicle sped forward and again hit the concrete base of a telephone switch board box.

The operatives rescued Quintana, who fell unconscious at the backseat of the vehicle, and the two suspects.

The agents seized from Bao two heat-sealed transparent sachets containing white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu, which were brought to the PDEA Laboratory Service for chemical analysis.