Around 15 kilos of marijuana were seized and two alleged drug traffickers were arrested early Monday during a buy-bust operation the police conducted in Quezon City.

The arrested suspects were identified as Francis Nepomuceno and Michael Gontinias.

According to the police the buy-bust operation was conducted around 1:30 a.m. inside a van parked along A. Bonifacio Avenue in Balintawak, Quezon City.

The poseur-buyer managed to buy five kilos of marijuana from the suspects. But when they sensed the buyer is a police officer they tried to flee in their vehicle.

Authorities cornered the suspects along Mayon Street in La Loma after chasing them for almost five kilometers.

A search on the vehicle of the suspect yielded an addition 10 kilos of marijuana. The street value of all the seized illegal drugs is estimated to reach as high as P275,000.

“This marijuana was likely sourced from Baguio and Nueva Ecija and these suspects are the ones distributing this in Metro Manila,” said Supt. Robert Sales, chief of the La Loma Police Station.

Sales said the arrest was the product of almost two months of surveillance they conducted against the suspects.

Nepomuceno claimed he is not a drug pusher but merely a courier, adding that he earns P1,000 per transaction.

The suspects will face charges for violation of the Comprehensive Drugs Act of 2002.

Meanwhile, three teenagers, including 18-year-old Vincent Barrion was arrested along with 59 other suspected drug pushers and users in buy-bust operations done in Quezon City in a span of three days.

Barrion was nabbed together with Michael Kent Centeno, 20; Glenn Pepito, 25; Rosalyn Palomar, 29 and Edgar Camas, 47, in buy-bust operations conducted by Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Fairview Police Station last Saturday around 11:00 p.m. along Republic Avenue in Barangay Greater Fairview.

Supt. Benjamin Gabriel Jr., Fairview police chief, said his anti-illegal drugs cops seized from the suspects six sachets containing shabu and the buy-bust money.

Around 8:40 p.m. Sunday, 19-year-old Daben Lorenzana and his two cohorts were arrested in a buy-bust operation by the Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) of Payatas Police Station.

Supt. Joel Villanueva, Payatas police chief, said seven sachets of shabu and the buy-bust money were confiscated from the three.

On 17 August QCPD operatives also arrested a certain Dexter Mabborang, 19. He was arrested for alleged involvement in a snatching incident but authorities found a sachet of shabu when a search was conducted on him.

Senior Insp. Rohaina Asalan, chief of QCPD’s public information office, said the three teenagers were among the 62 people netted in their continuing anti-drug operations.

As per Asalan’s data, 18 drug suspects were arrested on August 17 operations, 25 on August 18, and 19 on Sunday.

All the suspects were charged for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.