Crime | PSP detains four non-residents in buy-bust

The Public Security Police Force (PSP) has detained four non-resident workers (TNRs) from the Philippines and Vietnam in anti-drug operations conducted over the past week, the PSP revealed in a press conference.
The first operation took place on April 20 and resulted in the detention of two Filipino TNRs working at a condominium in Taipa.
According to the report from the PSP, the police were notified by a member of the public that two workers from a building located near the stadium roundabout had been consuming drugs and conducting drug-related transactions in the area.
At 7 p.m. on April 20, the Taipa police dispatched officers to the location and found two men, aged 29 and 31, who worked in the building: one as a caretaker and the other as a cleaner.
The PSP found several tools consistent with drug consumption in their possession, and the officers later found an electronic scale, a roll of aluminum foil, and a packet of straws in a search at their home address.
According to the PSP spokesperson, all these tools are suspected of being used for the processing and consumption of drugs.
During police interrogation, both suspects admitted to habitually taking drugs in the secluded area around the back staircase the building.
They also told the police they have purchased drugs through social media platforms.
Although no drugs were found at the scene or at the suspects’ home, a drug test performed on the suspects returned positive for methamphetamines.
Both cases were referred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) for consumption of illegal drugs.
In two further cases, the PSP has revealed that on April 21 and 22, they detained two TNRs from Vietnam. In the first case, a male in his 20s, working in a hotel, was found to have in his possession some pink pills and a powder hidden inside an eyeglass box: officers suspected these of being illegal drugs.
Upon investigation, the PSP found this to be 1.13 grams of ecstasy.
Questioned, the man said that he bought them on April 20 from an unknown woman saying that he intended to keep them for consumption later.
A drug test performed on the suspect returned negative. However, since he was found with drugs in his possession, the police believe there is enough evidence to charge him for consumption of illegal drugs.
Another Vietnamese male in his 20s was caught by the police on April 22 at Rua Dois do Bairro do Iao Hon. The police found some tools related to drug consumption and transparent crystals in his pocket, which they suspected of being drugs.
The PSP subsequently found that the drugs were “ice” (methamphetamine), a quantity of which the man admitted to having taken at a public toilet around that area a few hours earlier.
Like the other three men, he was also referred to MP to be charged for consumption of illegal drugs.