Man arrested with P11.8M shabu

CEBU, Philippines - Police arrested a man with shabu worth at least P11.8 million during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City early last night.

Supt. Palaleo Addag, chief of the City Intelligence Branch, said they hatched the operation against Regie Palotes, 35, after keeping an eye on his operation for two weeks.

Palotes who claimed to be from Barangay Labangon, Cebu City eluded arrest twice until last night. CIB personnel swooped down on him after he handed a pack of shabu worth P7,000 to a poseur-buyer in Gil Tudtud Street.

At the police station, he told reporters that he accepted the job after he was laid off from work at a ready-to-wear store last August. He said he needed the money to feed his family.

He said he is only a courier and kept the drugs at his rented room in Barangay Mabolo until he received instructions on the sale. The item he sold last night was given to him at the South Bus Terminal the other day.

Police refused to believe it was Palotes’ first time, considering the many reports they received about his activities, more so that he lived just a few meters away from the house of a cop.

The backpack recovered from Palotes contained drugs estimated to a kilo.  

Mabolo Captain Rey Ompoc who witnessed the inventory said he was not aware of the suspect’s illegal activities.

Yesterday’s operation was the first led by the new CIB chief. The former head of the branch, Supt. Romeo Santander, led the confiscation of shabu worth P2 million last month. — /JMO (FREEMAN)