Navotas drugbusters nab cop with shabu

A Northern Police District Office (NPDO) cop was arrested while in the act of sniffing shabu during a buy-bust operation the other day in Navotas.

Police Officer 1 Joselito Evangelista, 34, assigned at the NPDO Support and Services Group, was apprehended by operatives of the Navotas police Drug Enforcement Unit at Market 3, Navotas Fish Port Complex in Barangay North Bay Boulevard North (NBBN) at around 6 p.m.

Police Officer 3 Gerry Bravo, Station Drug Enforcement Unit (SDEU) investigator, said that several shabu sniffing paraphernalia were seized from the cop.

Bravo said that the target of the SDEU operation was a certain "Boy Siopao," a known drug peddler at the NBBN. The suspect managed to elude arrest.

"The SDEU men were about to grab the target after he handed P500 worth of shabu to our poseur-buyer when somebody shouted that they were cops," Bravo said.

The pusher ran to his house where he was pursued by the anti-narcotics agents.

Bravo said the SDEU operatives chanced upon a number of individuals in a shabu session inside the suspect’s residence, including the police officer.

"The users scampered to different directions and escaped but the operatives were able to apprehend one of them who turned out to be a police officer," Bravo said.

Charges of drug use and illegal possession of drug paraphernalia will be filed against the suspect.

"That only shows our honest to goodness campaign against illegal drugs.

Nobody is exempted," Chief Inspector Rafael Santiago Jr., NPD-Anti-Illegal Drugs-Special Operations Group chief, said.

Navotas Mayor Toby Tiangco lauded the police force after catching the alleged drug user.

"This is a warning to all drug users and pushers wanting to operate in our town. We will apply the full force of the law against you," the mayor said. — Pete Laude, Jerry Botial