Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Authorities have arrested the primary suspect in the peddling of party drugs at the Closeup Forever Summer concert that left five people dead, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said.
Joshua Habalo (alias Josh) was nabbed in an entrapment operation late Friday at House Manila club in Remington Hotel, Pasay City, the NBI said Saturday.
What we know so far: The Closeup ‘Forever Summer’ concert tragedy
An investigation by the NBI Anti-Illegal Drugs Division (AIDD) said Habalo was part of the group that allegedly sold illegal drugs at the Closeup concert in Pasay City last Saturday (May 21).
Based on their initial findings, the NBI said at least two of the victims died of massive heart attack, kidney failure and dehydration, which are indicators of drug overdose.
Upon receiving a tip from an unidentified source that Habalo was organizing a rave party on Friday, NBI agents who posed a persons wanting to attend the party sent a text message asking Habalo to reserve a VIP table, NBI-AIDD chief Joel Tovera said.
Tovera said the agents went undercover as party-goers and met Habalo, who offered to sell them ecstasy at ₱1,500 per tablet.
Habalo was arrested by a combined team of NBI agents, and members of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Philippine National Police (PNP). They confiscated from Habalo packets of suspected cocaine, ecstacy and the so-called “green amore” or “fly high”, a potent mix of ecstasy and methamphetamine, or “shabu.”
The NBI said Habalo admitted he was in the Closeup concert but denied selling drugs to party-goers.
Read: Police seek witnesses in Pasay City concert deaths
Officials said they have obtained photos of suspected illegal drugs taken by some people who attended the concert, together with videos of the party.
Habalo is set to undergo inquest proceedings today at the Office of the City Prosecutor of Pasay City for violations in the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 or Republic Act 9165.
CNN Philippines correspondent Kristine De Guzman contributed to this report.
