By Ma. Cristina Arayata – PNA
MANILA — An airport policeman from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s (NAIA) Light Reaction Section (LRS) apprehended a man on Monday afternoon, for possession of illegal drugs.
In an exclusive interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Tuesday, airport police Senior Inspector Nemencio Bawalan narrated that a jeepney passenger along Ninoy Aquino Avenue screamed after her mobile phone was snatched.
“That scream caught the attention of APO1 Alex Pagallaman of the LRS. He immediately responded and apprehended a male suspect, who ran away after the incident,” Bawalan said.
According to Bawalan, APO1 Pagallaman was inside the LRS office, located under the fly-over bridge going to NAIA Terminal 1, when the incident happened.
Although the passenger wasn’t sure if the man was the one who snatched her phone, and no mobile phone was recovered from him, authorities found a sachet of suspected shabu in his possession.
When authorities were questioning the suspect, 24-year-old Rogelio Sales, “they found a white crystalline substance in a plastic sachet hidden in his face mask,” he narrated.
The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) conducted a laboratory test for the white crystalline substance. The suspect was also brought to the PDEA office in Quezon City for a drug test.
The substance was found positive of methamphetamine.
“Sales was charged with violation of Section 11 of Republic Act 9165 (Possession of Dangerous Drug) and violation of Article 151 (Resisting Arrest) of the Revised Penal Code,” Bawalan said.
The suspect was brought to the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office for questioning and is now detained at the NAIA Police Intelligence and Investigation Division (PIID) detention cell while waiting for the inquest resolution.
Bawalan said the incident happened in the area under the jurisdiction of the Airport Police Department (APD), so the APD-PIID took charge of the case.
