MANILA -- A police officer who had gone absent without official leave (AWOL) was arrested for illegal drug possession in Muntinlupa City, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief, Maj. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said on Friday.
Eleazar said authorities nabbed Patrolman Victor Bustamante, 37, in a buy-bust in Barangay Poblacion, Muntinlupa around 2:45 p.m. Thursday.
Eleazar said an undercover agent managed to purchase five grams of suspected shabu in two plastic sachets worth PHP68,000 in exchange for PHP10,000 marked money from Bustamante.
During the operation, cops seized from the suspect two empty magazines of Glock 9mm pistol, a PNP ID of the suspect, a black mobile phone and a sling bag.
Eleazar said Bustamante was recruited as Police Officer 1 by the NCRPO sometime 2011 and was then re-assigned to Southern Police District- District Intelligence Division (SPD-DID).
The suspect, who went AWOL in February, was monitored to be engaged in the illegal drugs trade.
Eleazar presented Bustamante to the media, saying the AWOL cop will face charges for violation of Sections 5 and 11, Article II of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).
"He is not, in any way, connected with the Philippine National Police. For sure his apprehension will reduce the proliferation of illegal drugs in the different areas of this city,” Eleazar said. (PNA)
