Another suspected pusher escapes from police custody

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – Another suspected "high-profile" drug pusher, an in-law of a ranking police official, escaped from police custody here less than five hours after his arrest on Friday.

Pangasinan police director Senior Superintendent Arturo Cacdac Jr. identified the suspected drug pusher as Gary Reyes, the brother-in-law of Pampanga police director Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza.

Cacdac said Reyes, of Alvear II subdivision in Barangay Poblacion here, was arrested on drug charges around 9:50 a.m. of Friday and was brought to the provincial police headquarters for questioning after he was found in possession of three sachets of shabu.

But as the arresting and investigating team led by provincial police intelligence officer Superintendent Wilfredo Quintos was preparing required documents at around 2:25 p.m., Reyes slipped out of the police station undetected.

Cacdac said he already ordered Quintos and two other policemen, identified only as Senior Police Officer 3 Rico and Police Officer 3 Sison, to explain how Reyes managed to escape from their custody.

"We want to come up as soon as possible with the result of the investigation so we will know if there was negligence on the part of the police. If indeed they were remiss in their jobs, we will impose some disciplinary action," Cacdac said.

Cacdac has already ordered Quintos and his men "not to return until you have arrested the suspect."

Reyes’ escape came shortly after the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) came under fire for the escape from a Camp Crame detention cell of suspected Chinese drug trafficker Henry Tan last week.

Tan was able to escape on Sept. 29 by sawing off the window grills of his detention cell without being noticed by the police guard. He later scaled a 12-feet high perimeter fence of the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters and fled to heavily populated Barangay West Crame.

Tan shared his detention cell with two other Chinese drug suspects, Cai Hong Ze alias Edwin Chua and William Chua. They were arrested in an anti-drug operation in Zambales last November. Some 350 kilos of shabu were confiscated from the suspects.