Alleged bigtime pusher falls; one other acquitted

CEBU, Philippines - Prosecutors yesterday filed charges against an alleged bigtime drug pusher who was arrested during a raid of his residence in Carcar City last April 17.

Facing charges is Roel Velez of Barangay Ocaña, Carcar City. He was arrested by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency by virtue of a warrant issued by RTC Judge Meinrado Paredes that PDEA used to search his house.

Recovered from Velez’ house were 30 packs of shabu, a revolver, several units of cell phone, four wallets, and cash in different denominations amounting to P59,920.

In his affidavit, Intelligence Agent Yogi Filemon Ruiz said they received information on Velez as early as January who was reportedly confirmed by their intelligence records as one of the alleged major suppliers of illegal drugs in Cebu.

On April 5, 2010, they reportedly successfully bought shabu worth P3,000 from Velez during a test buy operation, which they made as basis to apply for a search warrant. 

Ruiz said they first knocked on the door of Velez’ house to implement the search warrant, but no one reportedly opened the door. When they forcibly entered the house, Velez was reportedly inside one of the rooms watching television with his wife.

A bail of P200,000 was recommended for Velez’ temporary liberty.

Meanwhile, another man was cleared from drug charges after the court found out that authorities failed to follow the chain of custody of evidence.

During the hearing of the case against Ernesto Rafols, the prosecution admitted there were no representatives from the Department of Justice, media and the local government unit to witness the marking of the nine plastic packets of shabu allegedly seized from Rafols.

Rafols was arrested on September 24, 2005 after policemen allegedly found the packs of shabu amounting to 0.18 grams inside his house.

With the admission of the prosecution, Paredes said the supposed evidence was not properly handled when it was turned over from the crime scene to the crime laboratory for examination and subsequently to the prosecutor’s office and to the court.

The court then ordered the warden of the city jail to immediately release Rafols from detention. The nine packs of shabu were also ordered destroyed in accordance with the provision of RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.   (FREEMAN NEWS)