Suspect in P6.7 billion shabu haul has died

CEBU, Philippines — One of the suspects arrested in connection with the seizure of nearly a ton of shabu worth P6.73 billion in Tondo, Manila in October 2022 died last month, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology announced yesterday.

BJMP spokesman Superintendent Jayrex Joseph Bustinera said Ney Atadero died due to a liver disease in a hospital in Pasig on May 25.

“(The) cause of death is acute decompensated liver failure,” Bustinera said in a message on Viber.

Atadero was admitted to the hospital on May 23 after he was granted medical furlough by a Manila court.

He was arrested by the Philippine National Police Drug Enforcement Group during a raid on a lending firm in Sta. Cruz, Manila on Oct. 8, 2022.

Atadero is allegedly an associate of dismissed anti-narcotics officer M/Sgt. Rodolfo Mayo Jr.

Mayo was tight-lipped on where the 990 kilos of shabu came from when he was asked during a Senate investigation in 2023.

The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 44 is hearing the drug trafficking cases filed against Mayo and Atadero.

Before he died, Atadero was detained together with Mayo in a BJMP facility for high-risk inmates in Taguig.