Fake cop nabbed for drugs, carjacking

MANILA, Philippines — A man claiming to be a police officer was arrested for car theft, possession of illegal drugs and unlicensed firearm in Quezon City on Tuesday.

Norberto Bernalez, 36, was apprehended at the corner of Sultan street and Ascension Avenue in Barangay Greater Lagro, according to Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar, director of the Quezon City Police District.

The entrapment operation against Bernalez stemmed from the complaint of Kevin Aquino.

Aquino told police that Bernalez did not return the Toyota Vios, which the suspect borrowed from his aunt sometime last year.

Bernalez allegedly yielded four sachets of shabu, a .45-caliber handgun, a police bullcap and a traffic vest with police markings.

Two other drug suspects were collared in a sting along Tandang Sora street in Barangay Culiat.   

Armida Macarimbang, 47, and her niece Norshiela Malibo, 34, allegedly yielded 50 grams of shabu with an estimated street value of P250,000.

Police said Bernalez tagged Macarimbang and Malibo as his sources of shabu.

In Binondo, Manila, three suspected drug dealers were nabbed for alleged possession of around P1 million worth of shabu supposedly sourced from a Chinese drug lord at the New Bilibid Prison.

“That is subject to validation. We have to do a case build-up and surveillance,” Superintendent Rogelio Ramos Jr., chief of the Manila Police District (MPD) drug enforcement unit, said.

Jennifer Bergoro, Gerald Alvarez and Eduardo Carillo were arrested by members of the MPD Station 3 and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in a sting in Divisoria.

Police said they were able to buy P150,000 worth of drugs from the suspects.

Bergoro is said to be a high-value target of the PDEA.

Three other drug suspects were rounded up in Paco.

They were Bernardino Mallari, Marisol Labian and Jodel Manalo.