Cop, cohort arrested in Koronadal operation

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Anti-narcotics agents arrested a policewoman and her male accomplice in an entrapment operation in Koronadal City in South Cotabato province on Tuesday afternoon, June 16.

Local executives in Koronadal City and ranking members of their city peace and order council told reporters on Wednesday that the 35-year-old policewoman, Cpl. JL Jane Jance and her companion, Harry Braña, are now both locked in a police detention facility, awaiting prosecution for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Officials of the Koronadal City Police Station and the Police Regional Office 12 told reporters on Wednesday that the suspects were immediately detained by plainclothes policemen, disguised as drug dependents, after procuring from them five grams of shabu, costing P34,000, during a tradeoff on Tuesday afternoon at Purok Pagkakaisa in Barangay San Isidro in Koronadal City, the capital of South Cotabato province.

Jance, to be prosecuted alongside Braña for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, reportedly belongs to an intelligence unit of the Koronadal City police force.

The operation that led to their arrest was premised on reports by Koronadal City residents about their clandestine trafficking of shabu in the city.

South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo Jr., chairperson of the Regional Peace and Order Council 12, told reporters on Wednesday that he is grateful to the tipsters who reported to officials of the Koronadal City police the illegal activities of Jance and Braña, enabling them to promptly plot the entrapment operation that led to their arrest.