MALABON JUDGE METES DEATH SENTENCE TO DRUG PUSHER

A Malabon City judge yesterday sentenced a man to die by lethal injection
for possessing 25 kilos of dried marijuana bricks last March.

In the 15-page decision of Judge Benjamin Aquino of Regional Trial Court
Branch 72, Eduardo Limpin, 24, a resident of 42 University Ave. in Potrero,
Malabon, was also sentenced to spend life in prison for drug pushing. The
convict was also directed to pay a fine of P15 million for the two cases.

Limpin's co-accused, Ricky America, 32, single, jobless, also from the same
place, was sentenced to life imprisonment for illegal possession of dried
bricks of marijuana and was ordered to pay a P5 million fine.

Court records showed that Limpin and America were apprehended by elements
of the Northern Police District-Drug Enforcement Unit during a buy-bust
operation last March 15 in front of their house.

Limpin was arrested while handling over one kilo of dried marijuana bricks
worth P1,500 to the police poseur-buyer. When police searched Limpin's
house, another 22 kilos of marijuana wrapped in newspapers were found
inside a Styrofoam box. Police also seized two kilos of prohibited drugs
from America.

The two had claimed during the trial that the police planted the evidence
against them.

The judge, however, junked their defense and found sufficient evidence to
find them guilty.