A SHABU stash estimated at P7.8 million was seized by police Friday dawn from an alleged drug dealer in Barangay Sawang Calero, Cebu City, in the biggest drug haul so far this year.
Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, head of the Cebu City Police Office’s City Intelligence Branch (CIB), said they didn’t expect to recover more than one kilo of the white crystalline substance from Roger Roxas, 25, during the buy-bust at 3:45 a.m.
“Wala gyud mi magtuo ato kadako diay ang naa niya (We did not think he would have that much),” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
Roxas is allegedly a new player in the narcotic trade and is classified as level one, meaning his main role is to dispose of the shabu to other drug dealers, the police said. He was not on the list of suspected drug personalities.
Before the operation, Santander said they received information three days ago that drugs would be delivered to the suspect’s house on General Gines St.
Because Roxas allegedly accepts only large transactions, a police decoy bought a large pack of shabu worth P300,000 from him outside his house.
“Amo gisuwayan ug palit unya nikagat man (We tried to bait him with a purchase and he bit),” Santander said.
Operatives of CIB led by Santander charged and took the suspect when the transaction was consummated.
Armed
A .45 pistol with two magazines and 23 live bullets were recovered from Roxas when police frisked him.
When CIB inspected his house, they said, they found 25 more packs of what appeared to be shabu, and each pack reportedly weighed 50 grams.
The confiscated substances were brought to the PNP Regional Crime Laboratory 7 for a chemical analysis.
As of yesterday, Santander said the results of the laboratory examination were still not available.
The arrest of Roxas, which is his first, took such a toll on him that the suspect kept vomiting, Santander said.
He had to be rushed to the hospital for a check-up, because he suffers from hypertension.
When interviewed by reporters, Roxas admitted to selling shabu for less than a year. His day job is making dried fish.
Fast cash
Roxas said he started dealing drugs only last February and this was the second time that shabu was delivered to his house.
He named his supplier, but police didn’t disclose the name yet, pending a follow-up investigation.
Santander said the supplier is, unlike Roxas, on the police force’s watch list of suspected drug personalities in Cebu City.
Roxas, during the interview, said he was lured by the huge amount of money involved in the trade.
“Wala ko kahibaw nga maabot diay ani nga higayon. Nagmahay gyud ko karon (I didn’t realize that it could lead to this. I regret getting into the trade),” he said.
In his day job, Roxas said he gets P600 a week. Selling drugs, he said, allows him to earn as much as P3,000 per transaction.
“Nadala ko sa kwarta (The money hooked me),” he said.
Roxas said that the other drug dealers, whom he didn’t know, would contact him through his mobile phone to arrange for transactions.
“Moanha sila o ako mohatod nila. Wala’y daghang istorya (Either they’d come to me or I would deliver to them. We didn’t talk much),” he said. The dealers advised him to delete their numbers.
Local blow
Roxas will be charged for violating Section 5 (sale of illegal drugs) and Section 11 (possession of illegal drugs) of Republic Act (RA) 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, before the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.
Santander said he considered the bust as a blow to the local drug trade.
Last Tuesday, four suspected drug pushers, including two elderly sisters, were arrested during a buy-bust in Danao City, where an estimated P230,000 worth of shabu were seized.
At least eight people allegedly involved in drug peddling were arrested in separate operations in Cordova, Madridejos and Cebu City on Wednesday and Thursday.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7, for their part, also arrested a Nigerian businessman in Mandaue City and confiscated enough shabu that would have yielded P300,000 in street sales.
In a follow-up operation, the NBI 7 recovered P3.5 million worth of shabu in the Nigerian’s rented apartment in Barangay Yati, Liloan.
Santander, during the interview, said this is the biggest haul of his career since he assumed as CIB chief.
Once a month
Two years ago, he and his police personnel arrested Restbie Tampos, a suspected female drug courier, and seized P5 million worth of shabu inside a lodge in Barangay Carreta.
In Cebu Province, Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, the provincial director, ordered the 50 police stations to make arrest at least once a month, in the fight against illegal drugs.
He said Bogo, Carcar, Compostela, Consolacion, Liloan, Minglanilla, Naga, Talisay and Toledo were identified as the areas with the most rampant reports of illegal drugs.
Comendador said stamping out illegal drugs is not their main task, but they act on it because the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency lacks personnel.
From January to June 2013, the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) confiscated 291.04 grams of shabu, which is worth more than P5.7 million and higher compared to last year’s haul by 27 percent or P3.3 million.
The CPPO arrested 258 people, including alleged drug pushers and users. It also uprooted 8,542 stalks of marijuana, in 191 operations they conducted.
P7.8M shabu found in Barangay Sawang Calero, Cebu City | Sun.Star
P7.8M shabu found in Sawang Calero village
Reply With Quote
Posting Permissions
