The Judiciary Police (PJ) have arrested three Philippine males and a Thai woman separately in the Praça de Ponte e Horta (known in Cantonese as Si Ta Hau) neighbourhood and Zape for their involvement in drug deals consisting of 44.84 grammes of methamphetamine (aka ice), 8.01 grammes of cocaine, 11.38 grammes of crack cocaine, 14 ecstasy pills, two blue smurfs and a small amount of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), totalling an estimated street value of 300,000 patacas, according to PJ spokesman Chong Kam Leong.

Chong said during a special press conference on Friday that upon receiving a tip-off that Filipinos were selling drugs at nightclubs in the city centre, PJ officers identified the two drug traffickers as the 25-year-old suspect surnamed Saleh Ghafar Dokht and the 32-year-old suspect surnamed Guillermo, and later put their home in the Si Ta Hau neighbourhood under surveillance. Chong added that the officers caught Saleh Ghafar Dokht red-handed while making a drug deal with the 26-year-old female suspect surnamed Phusiri.

According to Chong, the officers later took Saleh Ghafar Dokht to his home for further investigation, where they arrested the 31-year-old suspect surnamed Alarin and Guillermo who had just returned home.

The officers, Chong pointed out, seized drug-taking paraphernalia and about 20,000 patacas of suspected drug money from the residential flat.

Under questioning, all four non-resident workers (NRWs) admitted that they had a drug habit, with Saleh Ghafar Dokht telling the police that he bought the drugs from a foreign country.

Saleh Ghafar Dokht admitted that he had processed the crack cocaine into cocaine at home before selling it at three times the original price, while Guillermo admitted that he assisted Saleh Ghafar Dokht in handling the drug money that they gained from their three-month-long operation, according to Chong.

Among the four suspects, both Alarin and Phusiri were the customers of Saleh Ghafar Dokht and Guillermo.

The quartet were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Friday, where they face a range of charges such as drug taking, drug manufacturing, drug trafficking, money laundering and possession of drug-taking paraphernalia. 

The four hooded drug suspects are escorted by police officers to a Judiciary Police (PJ) vehicle outside the PJ headquarters in Zape on Friday.
– Photo: Yuki Lei