Eastern Samar governor's nephew caught selling cocaine

MANILA, Philippines -  A nephew of Eastern Samar Gov. Conrado Nicart was arrested along with two of his alleged cohorts for allegedly selling a kilo of cocaine to undercover police officers yesterday morning.

Arnold Nicart was collared after he received part the P1-million marked money at the parking lot of Club Filipino in San Juan City during a drug bust staged by Philippine National Police-Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Force (PNP-AIDSOTF) agents.

AIDSOTF head Deputy Director General Perfecto Palad said Nicart’s arrest came hours after two of his alleged runners – Jackson Garlejo, 37, and Ariel Bacolor, 32 – were arrested in a separate drug bust conducted by AIDSOTF Special Operations Unit 2 (SOU-2) near an eatery along Timog Avenue in Quezon City, also yesterday morning.

Seized from the two was a kilo of cocaine, which they initially agreed to sell for P1 million in last Friday’s drug transaction with AIDSOTF undercover agents.

Police also recovered a Nissan Urvan (NRO-977) and a Suzuki Multi-Cab pick-up (JCV-437), which they used in the drug deal.

Bacolor and Garlejo told AIDSOTF-SOU-2 agents that they did not own the cocaine but merely facilitated the drug deal on behalf of a certain Nicart.

“During tactical interrogation, the suspects revealed that the real owner of the seized drug is a certain ‘Nicart,’ whom they claimed was waiting for the payment near Club Filipino in San Juan,” Superintendent Leonardo Suan said.

The three are currently detained at Camp Crame while appropriate charges are being readied against them.

 “But in fairness to Gov. Nicart, I think he has nothing to do with this because he is actively involved in helping us in our efforts to recover at least one and half more tons of cocaine that was dumped near Samar by a passing vessel,” F/V King Yue, last December, Suan said.

Palad said yesterday’s drug bust was part of the Coplan (comprehensive plan): Samar Bricks, an ongoing operation to recover the bricks of cocaine.

The vessel was then under surveillance and was about to be intercepted by United States anti-narcotics agents and the US Coast Guard while sailing towards Hong Kong from Ecuador.

Several days later, some of the cocaine bricks with an estimated street value of P1.5 billion were washed ashore and recovered by residents of Samar’s coastal villages.

There are intelligence reports that these cocaine bricks have found their way to Metro Manila and other urban centers in country.