Family to reunite in jail following arrest for illegal drugs

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines  — A 47-year-old mother and her two children will soon join their father in jail after they were arrested in a buy-bust operation in Victorias City, Negros Occidental, police said.

Annabelle de Asis, her son Ian, 27, and her minor daughter, 17, were apprehended in an entrapment operation in Victorias City Monday evening, according to Chief Insp. Rico Santotome Jr., team leader of the Negros Occidental Police Office’s (NOPPO) Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group.

The raiding team seized six sachets containing suspected shabu, a P500 bill marked money, P970 in cash believed to be proceeds from their illegal activities, two cellphones, and assorted paraphernalia, Santotome said.

Annabelle’s husband, Joel, is also in jail after the NOPPO operatives arrested him for illegal drugs possession in a raid at their residence in Brgy. 6 in Victorias last July.

Superintendent Alexander Munoz said Annabelle and her husband were arrested in July for a similar violation but Annabelle was released on orders of the City Prosecutor’s Office. Their other son, Joma, was also arrested in an anti-narcotics operation, police records showed.

Munoz said Annabelle and Ian will soon join Joel and Joma at the BJMP jail in Victorias City, after charges were filed against them Tuesday.

The couple’s 17-year-old daughter, being a minor, is now in the custody of the Victorias City Social Welfare and Development Office, he added.  (FREEMAN)