Echiverri, Varela proclaimed

Two more cartons of Valium and Bivotril were seized by the elements of the Philippine Drugs Enforcement Agency yesterday morning from the Legaspi branch of LBC Hari Ng Padala.

 The raid was the continuation of the PDEA operation in which it seized an estimated P4 million worth of the regulated drugs from the Mandaue City Post Office Monday afternoon.

During their operation on Monday, PDEA operatives arrested Isidra Bacang, 24, of Malabuyoc town and Rodrigo Estillore, 35, of Inabanga, Bohol, after they handed over packages and envelopes bearing the illegal drugs to a postal clerk.

The suspects allegedly worked for a certain Joseph Van Hemelen, a Belgian national living in a subdivision in barangay Talamban.

PDEA regional director Amado Marquez said the suspects informed them during the tactical interrogation that another shipment of the illegal drugs is set to arrive through the LBC.

Marquez said that he then sent a team led by SPO1 Ramil Villaluz accompanied by Bacang and Estillore around 10 a.m. yesterday.

Marquez said that since the packages were addressed to Bacang, an LBC employee immediately handed the packages to her. In fact, the LBC personnel no longer asked for her identification card, as she is already a regular customer.

When the two cartoons were opened in the presence of the LBC staff, it was confirmed that they contained Valium and Bivotril tablets, which were pegged at P500,000.

As regulated drugs, Valium and Bivotril cannot be shipped in and out without the clearance from the PDEA. They cannot also be bought without a doctor's prescription.

Marquez said cases of transporting and possession of illegal drugs will be prepared against Bacang, Estillore and Hemelen.

He added that with the drugs' seizure, it is now clear that Cebu City has become the transshipment point of regulated drugs, although he failed to divulge their origin.

Bacang said Hemelen hired her in 2006 as a sales clerk for his Priscilla Pharmacy located in barangay Sto. Niño. But after the pharmacy was closed in August, she was then tasked to send mails and packages to the United States and Sweden through the post office together with Estillore, who served as her driver.

Marquez said although Bacang and Estillore will be charged for conspiring with Hemelen, they would help them avail of the government's protection program after the two cooperated with them.

Police are now trying to locate Hemelen, who is apparently fleeing after the arrest of Bacang and Estillore. - Flor Z. Perolina/LPM