No. 8 ‘Most Wanted’ in Taguig drug hotlist collared

Another major player in drug trade falls

Three down, more to go.

Following the arrest of two suspected major drug dealers in Taguig City’s Top 10 Illegal Drug Target Personalities this year, local police operatives scored another victory in the war against illegal drugs with the apprehension of the No. 8 ‘Most Wanted’ person in the hotlist on Monday night.

Acting on raw information given by reliable informants, the Taguig police swooped down on a house located at No. 65 Purok 1, Labao St. in Barangay Napindan and arrested Mardie Talampas, 44, during an entrapment operation.

Talampas, who allegedly uses aliases such as “Adie” and “Madam,” surrendered quietly to anti-drug operatives and made no effort to resist her captors at around 8:30 in the evening. Her arrest follows that of Jackie Abone and Rawie Castro, No. 2 and No. 5 respectively in the police hotlist.

“This is indeed a major victory in our continued fight against the drug menace in our city. At this rate, I believe it would not be long before we completely dismantle the machinery of big-time illegal drug syndicates preying on our citizens and our children,” Mayor Lani Cayetano said as she hailed the Taguig police in its recent arrest.

“I would like to believe that the informants who provided us with the information that resulted in the arrest of the major players in the drug trade are members of our community who want to rid their respective neighborhoods of the social cancer that eats up their friends and families.”

Senior Superintendent Arthur Felix Asis, Taguig City chief of police, said the arrest was the result of a series of successful intelligence gathering and operation planning. He echoed Mayor Lani’s statement that the community is part of this major victory.

“Although the local government of Taguig and the police is at the forefront of this war against drugs, we should remember that the Taguig community are important stakeholders in this fight. I am pleased that more and more members of the community are helping eradicate illegal drugs in our streets,” Asis said.

He disclosed that as far as the operation went against Talampas, they used a police undercover agent to pose as a buyer and close a deal with the suspected drug dealer to buy shabu worth P3,000.

At the end of the purchase, the agent signaled the rest of the team through a missed cellphone call to arrest Talampas, who was caught with the marked money and nine sachets of suspected crystalline substance believed to be shabu worth P200,000. Talampas was charged with violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 before the Taguig Prosecutors Office.

Taguig has been winning the war against illegal drugs since Mayor Lani took a “zero-tolerance” policy against drug syndicates at the onset of her administration. Just this year, Abone and Rawis, both in the Top 10 of the drug hotlist, were arrested on separate occasions.

In the past, prominent members of the Tinga Drug Syndicate, which included Joana Tinga and Henry Tinga, fell into the dragnet of the police during a raid in Barangay Sta. Ana a few years ago.

The Taguig police also was able to capture Elisa “Ely” Tinga, an alleged key member of the Tinga Drug Syndicate and the third most wanted in the police watchlist then. ###