2 more drug suspects killed in Pasig shootout; P149.6 million shabu recovered

Under PDEG’s ‘Coplan Chain Knuckle’

On May 10, 2021

Chief PNP Guillermo Eleazar (center) is being brief by PDEG director, P/BGen. Remus Medina (second from left) after an encounter with two drug suspects Sunday night, May 9, 2021, in Pasig City. The suspects were dead on the spot while 22 kilos of illegal drugs worth P149.6 million was also recovered by the joint law enforcement team. To the right of Eleazar is NCRPO director, P/MGen. Vicente Danao (photo credit: P/BGen. Remus Medina).

COMBINED law enforcement units headed by the Police Drug Enforcement Group (PDEG) shot dead two more drug suspects after a drug buy bust that went awry in Pasig City on Sunday night, May 9, 2021.

PDEG director, P/BGen. Remus Medina, in his initial report to Chief PNP, Guillermo Eleazar, said the operating troops also recovered some 22 kilos of illegal drugs (shabu) worth approximately P149.6 million, the suspects’ vehicle, a ‘Nissan Sedan’ (XJG-404), one .45 caliber pistol and one 380 caliber pistol.

Medina also identified the suspect as one ‘Arthur Abdul’ while the identity of his companion is yet to be established.

He added the firefight occurred along Axis Road, Kalawaan, Pasig City past 9:00 pm.

Eleazar, who is just 48 hours into his job as Chief PNP, immediately rushed to the scene of the incident along with National Capital Region (NCRPO) director, P/MGen. Vicente Danao, to be personally apprised of the situation by Medina.

Eleazar was sworn-in as the 26^TH Chief PNP only last May 7, 2021. He replaced his “mistah” from the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1987, P/Gen. Debold Sinas.

‘Coplan Chain Knuckle’

Medina told Pinoy Exposé that Sunday’s operation was part of their ongoing campaign to neutralize high-value targets under PDEG’s ‘Coplan Chain Knuckle,’ in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Intelligence Group (IG) of the Bureau of Customs.

The operational plan was drawn up to neutralize high-value (HVTs) drug suspects.

Chief PNP Guillermo T. Eleazar (left), while inspecting some of the recovered drugs from the suspects together with PDEG director, P/BGen. Remus Medina. Note that the illegal drugs are wrapped in Chinese tea bags, the ‘trademark’ of the Sam Gor (The Company) Drug Syndicate, Asia’s biggest drug syndicate and the world’s biggest producer of ‘crystal meth’ commonly known as “shabu” (photo credit: P/BGen. Remus Medina).

Last Sunday’s encounter brought to 4 the number of HVTs killed by law enforcement units, arrest of another suspect and the recovery of illegal drugs totaling 47 kilos with an aggregate value of some P320 million.

The two encounters that resulted to the death of the 4 drug suspects was preceded by the arrest last April 26, 2021, of ‘Michael Abdul Lucas,’ aka, ‘Boy Muslim,’ at a house in Town and Country Homes Subdivision, Dasmariñas City, Cavite.

The PDEG and other law enforcement units recovered 10 kilos of shabu worth P68 million from Lucas.

The follow-up operation the next day resulted to an encounter the next day between two drug suspects and police operatives in Taytay, Rizal, where law enforcers also recovered 15 kilos of shabu worth P102 million.

In both instances, Medina noted that the illegal drugs they recovered were sourced from “Chinese nationals.”

About Sunday’s encounter, Medina said the slain suspects were also behind the proliferation of illegal drugs in Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Central Luzon and other parts of the country, along with their dead and arrested companions.

He added that the dead suspect, ‘Abdul,’ was also one of the “distributors” of Lucas and both are getting their drug from a certain ‘Bating,’ who, in turn is a “warehouseman” (‘bodegero’) of a “Chinese national.”

Medina said he is verifying the family relationship of Abdul and Lucas.

‘Whole of Government’

Alvin Enciso, customs intelligence chief at the Manila International Container Port (MICP), when asked about the presence of the bureau under Coplan Bare Knuckle, explained that this is on the instruction of Comm Rey Leonardo Guerrero and DCI Raniel Ramiro under the ‘Whole of Government and Nation’ strategy in the campaign against illegal drugs.

Enciso said Guerrero’s instruction is for the CIIS to “strictly provide all the necessary cooperation and to closely coordinate with other law enforcement agencies, specifically with PNP-DEG and PDEA.”

He added one of their tasks is to “identify personalities involved, kinds of modus, and types of packaging” used by drug syndicates to help customs frontliners to be more watchful and vigilant in the processing of incoming shipments.