Razon hits lapses in arrest of ‘triad man’

CEBU CITY — Central Visa—yas police chief Avelino Razon Jr. has ordered policemen of the detective bureau investigated for possible lapses in the arrest of a suspected Hong Kong triad member.

The city police and the city prosecutor’s office are now preparing a motion to ask Barili Regional Trial Court Judge Ilde—fonso Suerte to reconsider his earlier decision to quash the evidence confiscated during the Sept. 7 drug operation.

Razon said he wanted to know where the detective bureau’s operatives, led by SPO3 Roy Codiqera, erred in effecting the search warrant against suspected triad member Nanan Jimenez.

"Police should know the proper way of effecting the search warrant so it will not affect the hearing of cases," he said.

Razon tasked the city’s internal affairs service to conduct the investigation.

Should the team be found to have committed lapses in executing the warrant and to have used the van for personal purposes, its members could face sanctions depending on the gravity of their offense.

Jimenez, his younger brother Jovan and friend Victor Ceniza were arrested last Sept. 7 in Barangay Mabolo with several packs of shabu weighing about 300 grams, P100,000 bribe money and the van, which was allegedly used to transport the illegal substance.

However, Suerte, in an order last Tuesday, said all the articles confiscated during the raid could no longer be used as evidence against the suspects because the detective bureau’s team searched places and persons not mentioned in and covered by the search warrant.

The accused questioned the legality of including the Starex van in the search, saying it was not covered by a valid search warrant. — Freeman News Service