Shabu worth P14 million seized, 2 nabbed

CEBU, Philippines —  At least 14 million worth of illegal drugs were seized by the police in two different buy-bust operations all on Wednesday evening in Cebu City.

The first operation was conducted in Sitio Puntod, Barangay Mambaling where around 1 kilo of suspected shabu with estimated value of P6.9 million worth was seized.

The arrested suspect was identified as Lyndon Acruz Bariñan, 22, a resident of Sitio Puntod of the same barangay.

The operation was conducted by the Mambaling Police Station spearheaded by its chief Police Major Juanito Dindo Alaras in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-7.

Colonel Josefino Ligan, Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) director, said Bariñan was a cohort of a previously arrested suspect, a certain Jeffrey Galledo, who was arrested in the same barangay back in October,

“Almost one kilo to (confiscated shabu). Kining bataa si Lyndon, link ni sila duha. Gani naa tay nadawat na impormasyon nga kini sya maoy bodega, maoy motago sa mga dinaghan nga item,” said Ligan.

According to Ligan, the source of transaction of these arrested suspects was allegedly an inmate inside the city jail named ‘Rockwella’.

“Dako ni siya nga drug lord. Dugay na sad ni siya nga naa sa sulod, area of Duljo, Mambaling. Mao ni iyang area of operation, kini si Rockwella,” said Ligan.

The arrested suspect could allegedly dispose of up to five kilos per week based on the tactical debriefing during the arrest of Galledo.

“Og inyong ma-notice sa atong mga operation nga makuha nga dinagko nga druga, grabe pagkapino sa shabu nga atong na-confiscate. Amo ning gikuhaan og data sa atong mga previous data since November last year, ing-ani siya,” said Ligan.

Second Operation

At around 9:46 p.m. that day, another buy-bust operation was conducted by the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU)-7, still in coordination with the PDEA-7.

Arrested in the operation was a certain Marcelina Villacorta Galang, 37, a resident of the same.

The operation yielded also about a kilo of suspected shabu with an estimated value of P7 million.

Appropriate charges for violations of Sections 5 and 11 of Article II of Republic Act 9165 are being prepared against the suspects.

Jail Action

Jail Superintendent Jose Abueva of the Cebu City Jail said they are in continuous coordination with the PNP on reports of inmates being tagged in the illegal drug transactions outside.

Several inmates, he said, have been isolated pending the investigation.

However, most of the investigations on the names of inmates mentioned in the buy-bust operations, were found to haven’t match on their profiling and their capabilities to transact with these arrested suspects outside.

“Ilang mga ngalan nga ibanggit sa gawas among i-verify diri sa sulod, naay mga instances na wala gyud diri. Kung naa man, daghang mga ngalan nga atong i-consider,” said Abueva.

Just recently, they have isolated six inmates who have the same names mentioned by one of the arrested suspects tagged as the source.

Arrested suspects usually claim that they transact with these inmates through cellular phone communication which is prohibited inside jail facilities.

To address the possible sneaking of contrabands, including phones, into the facility, Abueva said they have been continuously conducting greyhound operations. They have observed that the number of cell phones confiscated have been dwindling.

“Nikunhod gyud na siya kay based sa atong report. Nagkamahal man ang pagpasulod sa cellphone basta magkamahal ang item na ipasulod nila, kanang ilang hangyuon ng gikan sa gawas. Naay uban ni nga providers nato diri, ilang hayluon nga mupasulod diri, dagko naman ang money consideration,” said Abueva.

Abueva, however, emphasized that there are no jail personnel involved in this scheme and that they have been continuously intensifying their security enforcement to hopefully stop the same. JMD (FREEMAN)