Ex-Alega gang member turned pastor arrested in drug buy bust

former member of then notorious Alega Gang who reportedly became a pastor of a Born-Again Christian group was arrested during a buy-bust operation Wednesday night near an abandoned department store at the North Reclamation Area.

Chief inspector George Ylanan, head of the Vice Control Section, identified the suspect as Eleazer Tabar a.k.a. Ellie, 48, a resident of sitio Back Shrine in barangay Buhisan.

Ylanan told reporters they arranged a drug transaction using a police poseur buyer to purchase from Tabar a medium-sized pack of shabu worth P8,000.

Tabar reportedly agreed and asked them to wait for him at the parking lot of an abandoned department store at the North Reclamation Area.

The police team led by PO3 Jaime Otadoy related that Tabar arrived past 11 p.m. onboard a multicab and handed over the pack of suspected shabu to the poseur buyer. It was then that policemen deployed in the area collared him.

Ylanan said they earlier received information that Tabar, a level two drug pusher, took over the drug business left behind by his elder sister Bebot Tabar who was arrested a few months ago.

Ylanan added that Tabar is on the police drug watchlist.

But Tabar told The FREEMAN he was only attending to his vehicle at the parking lot of the abandoned department store at the North Reclamation Area when the police arrived and invited him to come to their office.

He said he went with the cops since he knew he hasn't done anything wrong. But upon arrival at the VCS, the police reportedly handcuffed him and effected arrest telling him that he sold them a pack of shabu.

Tabar admitted to have been a member of the Alega gang, a group involved in "agaw-armas" operations and robberies in the 80s . He served a three-year jail term at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in 1984 and was released in 1987.

After his release, Tabar said he tried to reform himself by joining the Living Word Christian Ministry where he became a pastor or a shepherd.

But because of another drug case that he alleged "was another frame-up" against him in 1998, his ministry stopped. The case is still pending in court, Tabar said. - Edwin Ian Melecio/MEEV