Police arrest 3 suspected drug dealers in buy-bust

HILONGOS, LEYTE, Philippines  – The police in this town have arrested three known suspected drug dealers in separate buy-bust operations in a span of less than a week.

The first to fall was Roselito Bardos, 38, married and a resident of Brgy. Tejero of this town. He was caught inside the public market right after a police poseur-buyer concluded a deal and relayed to the operatives a pre-arranged signal to effect the arrest.

Bardos is now facing a charge of violation of sections 5 and 11 of Article 11 of Republic Act 9165, docketed under case NPS NR VIII-02F-INQ-121-00017, before the prosecutor’s office of this town.

The police filed the case after the samples of the seized items from Bardos, tested in Southern Leyte PNP Crime Laboratory, yielded positive for methamphetamine hydrochloride, also known as shabu.

Three days after Bardos’ arrest, the local police nabbed Bryan Buenafe of Brgy. Lamak and Wilson Fernandez of Brgy. Owak in a separate but simultaneous buy-bust operations. Buenafe and Fernandez have been charged with similar cases as that of Bardos.

Chief Insp. Virgillo Plaza, acting chief of the Hilongos Police, told The Freeman that test results from the PNP Crime Lab also showed that the evidences seized from Buenafe and Fernandez were confirmed to be shabu.

“After a considerable time for surveillances and a few test buys, we applied for warrants for them and eventually was granted by Judge Ephraim Abando, RTC Branch 18 in Hilongos Leyte,” Plaza said. “We were very careful in handling with these three dealers because of their strong connections, but Mayor Jose Emery Roble gave his full support to us, which strengthened our morale, and thus the successful operations,” he added.

Roble was elated of the news of the arrest of the three suspects. “Now the people will know that the local government really meant business. If we clean up our coastal areas for unwanted debris that might harm our environment, there could be no reason why we will not go after these drug dealers who can destroy the future of our people, especially the younger ones,” he said.

The mayor also congratulated the town police personnel for responding to his call to eliminate people who he described as “sagbot sa katilingban (weeds of society)” and aired his warnings to drug dealers, users and coddlers to stop their trade.

“As always, I will continue to led and support police efforts to clean our area of these unwanted persons,” Roble added. (FREEMAN)