Cop to crook - flee!
2003-08-06 15:30
Manila - A policeman really blew a drug bust in the Philippines after he mistakenly sent an SMS to a suspect, not the other cops.
Inspector Tomas Chu, chief of Pasay City drugs task force in Manila, said the team leader was supposed to SMS his partners before they pounced.
Instead, he sent it to one of the two suspects, who had a scheduled meeting with police after being under surveillance during an undercover operation for weeks. After receiving the message the suspects immediately called off the meeting and fled the scene, Chu said.
"We had conducted two test-buys before the operation," he said. "We were prepared to arrest the suspects, but this blunder happened. We couldn't make our move."
The Philippines government recently stepped up its anti-drug campaign in a bid to neutralise more than 150 local and international drug syndicates.
Thousands of drug offenders have been arrested in the crackdown, while police have raided several hideouts and laboratories of syndicates in the past five weeks.
According to government estimates, more than three million of the 82 million Filipinos have a problem with drug abuse. Anti-crime groups say the drug trade in the Philippines rakes in 26 billion pesos (about R3 864m) annually. - Sapa-DPA
- SAPA