PDEG, PDEA, kill 2 ‘HVTs’ in Munti drug sting

Shabu packaging still points to Sam Gor Drug Syndicate as source

On May 25, 2021

A member of the ‘Divinagracia Drug Group’ lies dead near his vehicle after trying to shoot it out with combined anti-narcotics government agents during a drug sting in Muntinlupa City, May 23, 2021. A total of 10 kilos of shabu worth P68 million was recovered after the firefight (photo credit: PDEG director P/BGen. Remus Medina).

TWO members of the so-called, ‘Divinagracia Drug Group’ were slain and illegal drugs worth P68 million were recovered by anti-narcotics operatives during a buy-bust operation in Muntinlupa City on Sunday, May 23, 2021.

Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) director, P/BGen. Remus Medina, in an on-the-spot report to Chief PNP Guillermo Tolentino Eleazar, said the buy-bust-turned-encounter occurred along Arellano St., corner Nepomuceno St., Katarungan Village 1, Muntinlupa City, past 7:00 pm.

He identified the slain suspects as Jordan Sabandal Abrigo, aka, ‘Jordan’ and his companion, Jayvee De Guzman, aka, ‘JB,’ who were both armed with .45 caliber pistols.

Medina added that together with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Group (PDEA) and elements from the Southern Police District (SPD), they arranged to buy 2 kilos of shabu for P13.6 million from the suspects but the transaction went haywire resulting instead to the shootout.

When the authorities searched the suspects’ vehicle, a Nissan Cefiro, they also found an additional 8 kilos of shabu wrapped in Chinese tea packs worth P54 million.

As in previous operations, the shabu packaging is the trademark of the Sam Gor Drug Syndicate, Asia’s biggest drug syndicate and the world’s top producer of ‘crystal meth’ or shabu.

Chief PNP Guillermo Tolentino Eleazar (right), views some of the evidence recovered from two members of the ‘Divinagracia Drug Group’ after the encounter in Muntinlupa City (photo credit: PDEG director P/BGen. Remus Medina).

For over two months now, the PDEG, under Medina’s ‘Coplan Chain Knuckle,’ has been hot on the trail of the local distributors of the syndicate that thus far resulted to the death of 6 ‘high-value targets’ (HVTs) and the arrest of another. The group is behind the distribution of illegal drugs in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog and nearby provinces, Medina said.

As a result of these operations, the government has also thus far recovered 49 kilos of shabu worth P334 million.

Despite the similarity of the packages indicating the drugs came from a single source, Medina told Pinoy Exposé that their operation last Sunday is not connected to Coplan Chain Knuckle.

“This is a separate drug group,” he said.

Medina identified the leader of the drug group as one ‘Michael Divinagracia’ who is connected to one, ‘Jhonson,’ a Chinese national who is currently detained at the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.

The information once again revealed that the government’s effort to shut down the Bilibid drug connection remains a failure.

“Other than being a distributor here at NCR and Region 6, the suspect’s drug syndicate also proliferates illegal drugs at different areas of Visayas and Mindanao by means of delivery trucking via RORO at Batangas Port,” Medina said, referring to the activities of Divinagracia.

The illegal drugs, he added, would then be picked up by their ‘Muslim’ counterparts in Mindanao.

Medina added that the slain Abrigo is among the “trusted” courier of the Divinagracia Drug Group who was arrested in 2009 for robbery but the case was dismissed.

Abrigo then decided to move up the criminal ladder by becoming a drug courier for the syndicate, initially delivering 1 kilo of shabu per week where he earned between P10,000 to P30,000 for each successful delivery.

Before he was killed, Medina said that Abrigo had already increased his drug delivery business to 10 kilos each week, reaching to as far as Bacolod City.