25 nabbed in Laguna shabu raid

MANILA, Philippines - Police arrested 25 people and confiscated 145 grams of shabu worth P300,000 and three handguns during a raid Friday at a suspected shabu tiangge in Laguna.

Chief Superintendent Rolando Anonuevo, Calabarzon police director said his men simultaneously swooped down at seven houses in Barangay Canlalay in Biñan town at 9 a.m. Friday and surprised the arrested suspects, one of them a female drug dependent.

Anonuevo warned that more raids would follow as he vowed to implement the directive of Philippine National Police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa for an intensified campaign against loose and illegal firearms and other crimes for a peaceful and orderly May elections.

Elements of the Laguna police and the Criminal Investigation and Detective Team (CIDT) headed by Senior Inspector Vicente Cabatingan conducted the raid following reports that the said houses are being converted into shabu “tiangge.”

Armed with search warrants issued by Judge Eloida Capuno, of the Calauan, Laguna Regional Trial Court, the raiders swooped down at the residential houses and arrested the suspects, majority of them not residents of the area.

A subsequent search of the houses yielded at least 145 grams of shabu, 20 grams of dried marijuana leaves, assorted shabu sniffing paraphernalia, three .38 caliber revolver and live ammunition for the handguns.

The Calabarzon police director said the suspects gave different reasons why they are in the area during the raid.

The 25 arrested suspects are presently under the custody of the Laguna police for proper disposition while the confiscated evidence were turned over to the local crime laboratory for examination.

Anonuevo ordered the filing of appropriate charges against the suspects. – Non Alquitran and Ed Amoroso