Ex-cop turned alleged drug ring chief falls

MANILA, Philippines — A former policeman, Quezon City’s most wanted man, was arrested at his home in Barangay Salvacion on Tuesday.

Based on intelligence reports, former Police Officer 2 Alfredo Mabutol Jr., 43, reportedly leads a drug syndicate operating in the area of jurisdiction of the La Loma police station, said Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, Quezon City Police District director.

A police team served arrest warrants on Mabutol on charges of refusing to be a prosecution witness in an illegal drugs case and robbery and extortion.

According to Eleazar, Mabutol was a prosecution witness in the trial of a drug suspect in the Pasay City regional trial court. His non-appearance resulted in the dismissal of the case.

“Mabutol also had bench warrants of arrest for failure to testify in Pasay City where cases were filed against drug suspects arrested there,” Eleazar said.

He is also the subject of an arrest warrant for robbery and extortion stemming from an anti-drug operation in La Loma in May 2007, wherein he allegedly stole P11,060 in cash and other personal belongings from the subject of the operation.

Records show Mabutol entered the police service in October 1999  as a member of the Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) police’s Regional Mobile Group.

He was last assigned at the Regional Personnel Holding and Accounting Unit of the National Capital Region Police Office.

Mabutol was dismissed from the service in July 2017.