75 nabbed in Bulacan drug den raids

BOCAUE, Bulacan — Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) rounded up at least 75 people during raids on drug dens here last Tuesday afternoon.

The NBI agents, numbering about 80, swooped down on the Buntisan/Gumatay and De Castro compounds in Barangay Lolomboy, apprehending 75 people, some of whom were allegedly selling shabu and aluminum foil or renting out rooms to drug users.

Thirty-nine of those arrested reportedly tested positive for illegal drug use.

The Bocaue raids came on the heels of successful anti-illegal drug raids in the cities of Pasig and Pasay and in Quiapo, Manila.

The NBI agents, who conducted the raids here after a month-long surveillance, were armed with search warrants issued by Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Felixberto Olalia Jr.

NBI regional director Ruel Lasala, chief of the bureau’s anti-illegal drug unit, said they have yet to submit the confiscated items to their forensic and chemistry division for examination.

But Anselmo Avenido, director general of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, said the drugs seized in kiosks in Barangay Lolomboy might be of "high grade."

"The quantity of the drugs recovered from these compounds is irrelevant because the drugs were high-grade, otherwise their customers would not have patronized them," he said.

"The quality is different from that of drugs being peddled in the streets," he added.

Lasala said the raids showed that drug pushers have shifted to renting out rooms or cubicles to drug users because of the success of law enforcement agencies in dismantling shabu laboratories.

One of those arrested here was Belen Gumatay, 66, who allegedly rented out rooms to drug users while selling banana and camote cue.

She, however, denied the allegations, saying she was out of the house for long hours. She claimed that her tenants such as Analyn Balanditan, 37, a laundrywoman, might have been the ones running the illegal business.

Balanditan admitted to reporters that drug users paid her P10 for use of a cubicle, part of which she allegedly gave to Gumatay. — Evelyn Macairan, Dino Balabo and Ric Sapnu