P.7M shabu, video karera also seized: 7 fall in Duljo raid

CEBU, Philippines - Police arrested two suspected drug pushers, two wanted men and three other men in a joint operation past 1 a.m. yesterday in sitios Bayotan and Panaghiusa in Barangay Duljo-Fatima, Cebu City.

They also confiscated P700,000 worth of suspected shabu, an M-16 rifle, a .38 cal. revolver, sticks of rolled marijuana and 52 video karera machines.

Police identified the arrested suspected drug pushers as Michael Cuaderno alias “Michael Geraldo”, 35, and Leonisa Abellar, 55; and the wanted persons Mark Raymon Tan and Kier Gatila. They also arrested Joebert Abarquez, 27; Christopher Bernie Tandoy, 34 and Rosendo Abarquez, 53, for drug possession.

Senior Inspector Mark Henrix Bancoleta of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group-7 said the operation was carried out with the cooperation of the Regional Public Safety Battalion-7, the City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group of the Cebu City Police Office and the Mambaling Police Station.

Bancoleta said two teams simultaneously served warrants in the two sitios. The warrants were issued by Judge Wilfredo Navarro, of Regional Trial Court Branch 25, in Cebu City.

Police found an M-16 rifle, a .38 cal. revolver, 216 small packs of suspected shabu and six medium-sized packs of shabu worth P650,000 inside the house of Cuaderno.

Cuaderno said the drugs does not belong to him and was just left to him by a person who asked him to repack it for P500. He also denied owning the guns found saying they just appeared when the police showed up.

Policemen who went to serve the search warrant on the house of Abellar found at least 50 small packs of suspected shabu inside her house.

Abellar also denied owning the shabu. She admitted to selling drugs last December to have money for Noche Buena but said she had stopped since then.

“Tungod intawn sa kalisod sir, ma-behind sad baya ta’s uban, namaligya ra gud ko pangpalit og Noche Buena pero nihunong na ko atong petsa 28 sa Disyembre,” she said. 

While the police were searching Abellar’s house, they saw Joebert Abarquez, Rosendo Abarquez and Tandoy inside a building with video karera machines.

The police arrested them for playing video karera and after frisking them police found a pack of shabu each from Tandoy and Joebert Abarquez while five sticks of marijuana were recovered from Rosendo Abarquez.

Tan and Gatila were arrested after the police found them in their respective houses. The crimes they were wanted for were not immediately known.

The police also recovered several drug paraphernalia from at least 10 drug dens around Sitio Bayotan and Sitio Panaghi-usa. Around 30 people in the suspected drug dens and video karera machine dens were told to stay put but were not arrested.

In all, the drugs seized from the house of Cuaderno and the other raided drugs dens amounted to around P700,000.

The video karera machines were later brought to the Police Regional Office-7 headquarters.

Meanwhile, two men and a woman alleged to be drug peddlers were arrested in a buy-bust operation in Sitio Marbeach, Barangay Marigondon, Lapu-Lapu City, yesterday morning.

Police arrested Roweno Aton, 43, and Ajie Jake Rafaela, 31, both residents of the area; and Rosemarie Cortes, 30, a resident of Agus Proper, Barangay Agus, around 6:30 a.m., said Chief Inspector Mark Gifter Sucalit, intelligence chief of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office.

Police seized 25 small sachets of suspected shabu from Aton while 15 small sachets were taken from Rafaela.

Cortes was arrested after she visited Aton’s house that appeared to also serve as a drug den, according to Sucalit.

The suspected shabu was estimated at P28,300.  — /BRP (FREEMAN)