Cagayan’s top shabu dealer falls

TUGUEGARAO CITY — A joint team of the provincial police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested whom they considered the top shabu dealer in Cagayan the other day.

The suspect, Edgar Navarro, 41, who allegedly supplied shabu in the coastal town of Aparri and the nearby municipalities of Lallo, Gattaran and Lasam, was collared in a buy-bust operation in Barangay San Antonio, Aparri.

PDEA Director Primitivo Bayongan Jr. said Navarro was nabbed in the house of one Bernie Tarampi, 36, on Rizal street. Ten grams of shabu with a street value of P60,000 and drug paraphernalia were seized from him.

Bayongan said Navarro’s arrest came after two test-buys conducted by PDEA assets.

Chief Superintendent Jefferson Soriano, Cagayan Valley police director, said Navarro was arrested in 2004 and 2005 for the same offense but managed to post bail.

Cagayan Gov. Edgar Lara commended the PDEA and the Cagayan police for a job well-done and assured them of his continued support in the fight against illegal drugs.