7 fall in separate drug buy-busts

CEBU, Philippines - Police rounded up seven people in separate drug buy-bust operations in Cebu City last Friday yielding close to P100,000 worth of illegal drugs.

Operatives of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Group (RAIDSTOG) 7 arrested four suspected drug pushers in Barangay Ermita at 3:30 p.m. They were identified as Wesly Maanghop, Leonardo Otida, and Brothers Jesryl Cabana and Louis Cabana.

Senior Insp. Henrix Bancoleta said that the subject of the operation, Victor Macaraya, was able to elude arrest. The police seized two medium packs of shabu worth P40,000 and a caliber .45 pistol from Maanghop and Otida. Five small packs each were seized from the Cabana siblings.

Bancoleta said a police decoy bought a pack of shabu from Macaraya but it was Maanghop who handed the substance to the undercover policeman.

Operatives tried to arrest the two along with Otida, but the suspects fled towards the rooftop of the three-storey house owned by Macaraya. Except for Macaraya who was able to get away, Maanghop and Otida were arrested.

RAIDSOTG 7 operatives were already about to leave the area when they spotted the suspicious Cabana brothers onboard a motorcycle. The policemen flagged them down because their motorcycle had no plate and they were not wearing helmets. When frisked the siblings were found to have illegal drugs in their possession.

Later in the evening of Friday, elements of the Investigation and Detective Management Branch (IDMB) also caught Rodel Silverio, 37, in C. Padilla St., Barangay Duljo-Fatima.

Police recovered 42 small packs of suspected shabu estimated to be worth P46,500. IDMB chief Aileen Recla said the suspect, a barber, was arrested based on the information they earlier received.

IDMB operatives arranged a transaction with Silverio resulting in his arrest.

The suspect admitted selling illegal drugs because his salary at the barber shop is not enough to sustain his basic needs.

In another operation, Junevec Pepito, 37, and Nicho Dioso, 26, were also caught having in possession 12 packs of shabu in Sitio Rotunda, Barangay Banilad.

City Intelligence Branch (CIB) operatives were out to arrest suspected drug pusher Eugene Legaspi but the latter was able to elude arrest.  (FREEMAN)