DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – Police operatives arrested a suspected drug pusher in a buy-bust operation early Tuesday morning and seized from him shabu, a firearm and some ammunition.
The suspect, identified as 31-year-old Romeo Amoma Jr., of Sitio Canday-ong in Barangay Calindagan of this city, was arrested in a buy-bust conducted in Barangay Taclobo where he allegedly sold shabu to a poseur buyer.
Senior Inspector Ryan Jay Orapa, head of the Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group, said the operatives then seized from Amoma three big sachets, containing shabu granules weighing 15 grams and valued at about P165,000 based on the Dangerous Drugs Board pricing.
The police also got from the suspect's possession a .45-caliber pistol with three rounds of live ammunition, one digital weighing scale, a P500-marked bill placed on top of bogus money used during the transaction, and a motorcycle.
Orapa said Amoma is now detained at the lock-up facility in the city. But the suspect claimed the evidences were planted, saying he was arrested at about 1 p.m. on Monday while gassing up his motorcycle in a gasoline station.
Amoma alleged further he was taken to the police headquarters where the inventory of seized items was conducted only at 7 a.m. the following day or Tuesday.
Meanwhile, earlier on Saturday, two suspects were arrested in a buy-bust operation by the City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group, headed by Inspector Marvin Fegario and Superintendent Reynold Andot, officer-in-charge of the city police.
The arrested suspects were Arnel Cano Remollo, 31, of Sitio Canday-ong in Calindagan, and Rovil Vilar, 34, of Habitat 1 in Barangay Bajumpandan. Seized from them were bultos of shabu worth more than P177,000.