Drugs worth P7.3 million seized, city jail tagged as source

CEBU, Philippines — Another high-value drug individual admitted that he sourced his illegal drugs from a contact inside the Cebu City Jail after he was nabbed with about P7.3 million worth of shabu in Barangay Calamba, Cebu City.

The suspect was identified as Juhndel Abanid, a.k.a Tiyo, 22 years old, a resident of Calamba.

Abanid was arrested following a police intelligence-based operation led by the Pasil Police Station around 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

According to the initial reports received by the police, the suspect was once arrested for violation of Sections 5 and 11 of the Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, last February 11, 2018, by the Carbon Police Station.

Since then, Abanid went under probation, and his illegal activities were under the radar of the authorities.

His drug transactions were believed to be carried out in five areas in Cebu City, particularly in Barangays Pasil, Suba, Duljo, Labangon, and Calamba.

He is also considered one of the region's high-value individuals for drugs.

Recovered from the suspect were 43 packs of Shabu weighing 1.75 kilograms with a standard drug value of P 7,310,000 and other drug paraphernalia.

In an interview with the media, Abanid said he sourced his drugs from a certain Alexander whom he called "Utol," inside the Cebu City Jail. But he did not verify if Alexander was an inmate or a personnel inside the jail.

He said that he and Utol transact through the online chat application Messenger or the latter would call him, and he was given P10,000 for each delivery.

He said he regretted that he went back into drug transactions and cited that he was already reprimanded by his parents to stop the illegal activity.

Tuesday night was the first time he delivered a kilo of drugs as he said his usual delivery was only around 25 grams.

Drug source

Police Regional Office Central Visayas Director Police Brigadier General Jerry Fornaleza Bearis said they had constantly been coordinating with other law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

He said they aim to get to the bottom of its sources and find out where these come from, though they have not arrested any influential drug personalities behind it yet.

"Continuous yung ating collaboration at intelligence vision doon sa mga probable na areas na pwedeng pagkunan nila ng druga.

We will continue to follow up leads and make more arrests. Hindi tayo titigil hanggat makuha natin ang pinakapuno nito at malaman kung saan ito nanggagaling," said Bearis.

[Our collaboration and intelligence vision are continuous in the likely areas where they can source drugs. We will continue to follow up on leads and make more arrests. We will not stop until we get the most out of it and know where it comes from.]

Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said the suspect would undergo tactical interrogation to obtain more information regarding his drug source.

Abanid was among the many drug suspects and the third this year arrested by the police who admitted having a contact inside the City Jail. — Robhe Jane C. Yara (FREEMAN)