Cargo of pebbles stopped in Argao

Policemen intercepted a truck laden with sacks of black and white pebbles from Samboan town in Argao town at 6 a.m. yesterday.

Town police chief Insp. Condrado Manatad said the truck, with plate no. XFT720, was impounded and the cargo put in police custody for alleged lack of the necessary permit in transporting the pebbles.

Truck driver 50-year-old Luvimin Mahinay, truck helper Eleazar Mahinay, and five others were first held at the police station for interrogation before they were released later in the day.

Luvimin told the police that a man, he knew only as Long-Long, in Samboan hired him to deliver the pebbles at P20 per sack to barangay Mabolo in Cebu City.

It was SPO1 Esteban Albuera who tipped off the Argao Police at about 3:30 a.m. about the cargo prompting the conduct of a checkpoint at the national highway in the town's poblacion, said SPO2 Reynaldo Rubia.

The Argao Police has yet to ascertain the number of sacks in the truck but estimated the cargo might be worth about P16,000.

The truck and the sacks of pebbles will be turned over to the provincial environment and natural resources officer, or PENRO, at the Capitol, the police said. - Norvie S. Misa