Abra mayor, 5 others arrested for illegal drugs

A town mayor and five others, including his councilor son and a daughter, were arrested in an anti-drug operations by Task Force Abra over the weekend.

The suspects yielded 112 grams of shabu worth P300,000.

Langiden Mayor Felix Castillo, his son Wilbur, a councilor of Danglas town, daughter Evelyn, and three others identified as Christian Molina, Rodel Panelo, and Johnny Trinidad, did not resist arrest when cornered by the police led by Chief Superintendent Eugene Martin, Task Force Abra commander.

Aside from shabu, Martin said the raiders also confiscated three cellular phones, a weighing scale and assorted drug sniffing paraphernalia from the suspects.

In his report to Camp Crame, Martin claimed that the councilor has bee arrested several times in the past for drug pushing but always get freed on bail.

For the past two days, elements of the Task Force Abra, in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), has been conducting surveillance at the mayor‘s residence in Zone 4, Bangued town.

After confirming the drug pushing activities of Councilor Castillo, Martin directed Chief Inspectors Dante Gacadan and Melvin Napiloy to conduct a buy-bust operation.

The police teams lead by Gacadan and Napiloy positioned themselves around Mayor Castillo’s residence while a poseur-buyer arranged the purchase of shabu at 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

The raiding team nabbed the councilor insidethe house where Evelyn and his three companions were also caught in a pot session, Martin reported.

Mayor Castillo tried to interfere but he was also arrested.

Martin said they received intelligence reports that the Castillos are using their residence as a drug den.