A jobless Vietnamese man who had been selling ice for around three months in Areia Preta distrct was arrested yesterday at 1 a.m., resulting in the seizure of 2.43 grammes of ice with an estimated street value of 9,000 patacas, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Ho Chan Nam said at a special press conference yesterday afternoon.
The suspect, a 38-year-old male surnamed Nguyen who is holding a temporary stay permit, is an ice user, according to Ho.
Ho said that the police recently received a tip-off that a man was selling drugs in the northern district. Ho added that the police identified the suspect and his address, and they put a residential building in Rua Nove do Bairro Iao Hon (祐漢新村第九街) where he lived under surveillance on Monday afternoon.
Ho pointed out that when the suspect turned up outside the residential building yesterday at 1 a.m., police officers immediately stopped and searched him. They then took him to his flat for further investigation.
Ho noted that the police found five packets of crystal meth, aka ice, in the stairwell near his flat, as well as 1,500 patacas, which officers suspect to be drug money, in his home. Ho said that the suspect admitted that the ice belonged to him, but he refused to reveal the source of the drugs and whether they were for his own use or to be sold. Ho underlined that the suspect’s drug test came back negative.
According to the investigation, the suspect had mostly sold drugs to local residents in Areia Preta, and he would place the drugs in a specific location during each “transaction” without meeting his “clients”, Ho said.
Ho said that the police would continue to discover the source of the drugs and try to identify other people possibly involved in the case.
Ho said that the suspect had worked as cleaner in Macau before he was dismissed a year ago, after which he was granted a temporary stay permit.
The suspect was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing drug trafficking charges.
This handout photo pixelated and provided by the Judiciary Police (PJ) yesterday shows two police officers and the suspect in his flat.
Evidence seized from the suspect such as five bags of ice and 1,500 patacas in suspected drug money is displayed at the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters yesterday.
