SOUTH COTABATO, Philippines - It was a P200 worth sachet of shabu that gave him away.
Lodergario Esnoche of Banga town in South Cotabato on Tuesday went to their municipal police station to request assistance to locate his stolen tricycle, but ended up clamped down in a detention cell instead.
Esnoche, resident of Barangay Cabudian west of Banga, a booming agricultural town west of South Cotabato, had told probers that he lost his tricycle to thieves early Tuesday and that he needed help to find it.
When the investigators asked Esnoche to provide proper identification, a packet of shabu fell from his wallet when he pulled out his driver's license. The police were forced to arrest and detain him.
The Banga municipal police had said in an official statement investigators will charge Esnoche with violation of the Philippine Dangerous Drugs Act using the shabu recovered from his possession as evidence against him.