4 nabbed in Toledo buy-bust

CEBU, Philippines - Four men were arrested, one of them wounded after attempting to shoot at a policeman during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Don Juan Climaco, Toledo City Tuesday morning.

The police identified the suspects as Ariel Segarra, 38, his sibling Elton, 29, Danilo Traya, 50, and Jerome Cabante, 28, who was brought to Toledo City Hospital for treatment after sustaining a gunshot wound.

Ariel, who allegedly has a pending case at San Carlos City, Negros Occidental for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act but was able to post bail, was the target of operation of Toledo City police. He was placed under one-week surveillance.

During the buy-bust operation, Ariel handed over a sachet of suspected shabu to a poseur-buyer in exchange for P200 resulting to his arrest.

During the arrest, Cabante, who was in the vicinity, allegedly pulled out a cal. 357 revolver and aimed it to Police Officer 1 Readan Lara. Cabante squeezed the trigger several times but it did not fire.

Police Officer 2 Melchizedek Batomalaque, Lara’s backup, was prompted to shoot Cabante in his buttocks to neutralize him, leading to the suspect’s arrest too. Other police officers were able to hold the other suspects.

The four suspects were seized with nearly 50 grams of shabu with an estimated value of almost P500,000.

The police also recovered Cabante’s cal. 357 with four live rounds and a Colt cal. 45 pistol loaded with ammunition and a hand grenade from Elton.

Superintendent Ricky Delelis, chief of Toledo City Police Station, said the suspects admitted that someone riding a motorcycle would pass by Ariel’s house and drop the contraband.

“Aalamin pa namin kung sino talaga ang main source nito,” said Delelis.

He added that they will be filing a case for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 against the suspects. — (FREEMAN)