More than P2 million worth of suspected shabu was confiscated from a high-value individual in a buy-bust operation in Malate, Manila on Thursday afternoon.

Operatives from the Manila Police District's (MPD) Drug Enforcement Unit conducted the operation at around 5:40 p.m. along the corner of San Andres Street and Taal Street, Malate, Manila, following close coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

During the transaction, law enforcement officers arrested the 40-year-old suspect.

Recovered from his possession were two heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets and three knot-tied plastic sachets containing a white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu. The seized contraband weighed approximately 325 grams in total, including packaging materials, with an estimated standard drug price of P2,210,000.

Authorities also recovered the buy-bust money, which consisted of a genuine dusted P500 bill paired with boodle money made up of one counterfeit P500 bill and four counterfeit P1,000 bills.

The suspect is currently detained at the MPD Drug Enforcement Unit holding facility and will face formal charges for violations of Sections 5 and 11, Article II of Republic Act No. 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).

Meanwhile, the confiscated drug evidence has been turned over to the MPD forensic unit for comprehensive qualitative and quantitative examination.