The Manila Police District (MPD) said on Thursday they arrested a trader of banned abortion pills during an entrapment operation in Quiapo, Manila last Wednesday afternoon and seized from him more than P200,000 worth of the illicit products.

Arresting police officers presented suspect Jose Hepolito Laura, a resident of Libertad, Pasay City, before Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim during a news conference at the Manila City Hall on Thursday.

Based on the report of MPD-Station 3 commander, Supt. Ernesto Tendero Jr., Laura was arrested in an entrapment operation on Quezon Boulevard near Palanca Street in Quiapo district around 4 p.m. last Wednesday.

Tendero said they received an information from an unnamed source that Laura will be delivering several varieties of medicinal tablets including Cytotec, a known abortifacient drug.

Aside from the arrest of Laura, the MPD raiding team likewise confiscated at least 1,277 Cytotec and Methargine Uterotonic tablets, and herbal capsules worth P250,000.

Tendero said they were able to arrest Laura with the help of an asset who posted himself as a buyer.

Once they spotted Laura, they immediately placed him under arrest.

Tendero said that Laura's actions were in violation of a pharmaceutical law.

Laura told authorities that he was unaware that the tablets he was selling can be used for abortion and thought that they were merely for ulcer.

He claimed that he was only running an errand for a Pakistani, who he said supplied the drugs to interested clients in Quiapo. Laura identified the Pakistani as Chandry Khuram-Aziz.

This was not the first time that authorities seized several abortion pills from what they described as "guerrilla vendors" who have sprouted outside the Quiapo Church.

Last week alone, the MPD conducted several raids in Quiapo wherein they were able to confiscate more than P100,000 worth of Cytotec tablets.

They likewise seized 30 sacks of pirated DVD and VCD movies in the area, according to Tendero.

Meanwhile, authorities are set to file charges against the suspect before the Manila Prosecutors Office. They likewise launched a manhunt againt Khuram-Aziz.