FIVE suspected drug traffickers, three of them operating in Metro Manila, were arrested in a series of anti-narcotics operations conducted by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency which resulted in the seizure of nearly P600,00 worth of shabu and cocaine, PDEA chief Jose S. Gutierrez, Jr. said yesterday.

Gutierrez identified the suspects as Ricky Esdrillon, Sally Michelle Kho, Rodel Erick Tomas, Conrado Gonzales and  Rolando Kerwin Espinosa. Esdrillon, Kho and Gonzales were all arrested in Metro Manila while Tomas and Espinosa were nabbed in Tugeugarao City and Ormoc City, respectively.

Dusaran was collared by members of the PDEA Metro Manila Regional Office  headed by Director Wilkins Villanueva after he sold seven sachets of cocaine to an undercover officer in Marikina City on Monday.   Seized from Dusaran were some nine grams of cocaine valued at about P50,000.

Kho, on the other hand, was caught after she sold nearly 50 grams of shabu worth P250,000 to an undercover agent at the corner of Buendia and Harrison streets in Pasay City. The suspect also yielded the marked money paid to her by the poseur.

Gonzales, 43, jobless, of 404 Pitong Gatang St., in Tramo, San Dionisio, Parañaque City was arrested after he sold P250,000 worth of shabu to a poseur at the back of the Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

A background check showed that Gonzales was previously convicted  of a drug  offense and had served a 14-year jail term.   Alfred Dalizon