Jaguar's neighbors: PDEA-7 dismantles 2 drug dens, nabs 2 pushers in Duljo-Fatima

CEBU, Philippines - Operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-7 have reportedly dismantled two drug dens and arrested two neighbors of slain druglord Jeffrey "Jaguar" Diaz in Barangay Duljo-Fatima, Cebu City in just two days.

The latest to be arrested was Romeo Laresma, 58, who was seized with some 20 grams of shabu during a buy-bust operation at his house late Saturday afternoon.

Laresma's house is just near that of Liliosa Geralao, 66, who was arrested on Friday afternoon in another buy-bust operation conducted by the PDEA-7.

Laresma and Geralao were both neighbors of Diaz who was killed in Las Piñas on June 17 during a police operation.

With the arrest of Geralao, PDEA-7 public information officer Leia Albiar said they expected that the drug den Laresma was maintaining will be closed.

However, in a surveillance conducted on Saturday morning, the PDEA-7 found out that the drug den inside Laresma's house was still operating, said Albiar.

The police then arranged a buy-bust operation that led to Laresma's arrest and the dismantling of the said drug den inside his house.

Aside from Laresma, three others were also arrested for reportedly visiting the drug den. They were Joseph Villaronte, 32; Jose Maria Ngoho, 25; and Abel Laborte, 37.

The operatives were able to confiscate from the suspect's house five packs of suspected shabu weighing more or less 20 grams and with an estimated street value of P64,000, drug paraphernalia, and the P1,000 buy-bust money.

Complaints for violation of sections 5 (sale), 6 (maintenance of a den), 11 (possession of illegal drugs), and 12 (possession of paraphernalia) Article II of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 will be filed against Laresma.

Villaronte, Ngoho, and Laborte, on the other hand, will be charged for visiting a drug den, a violation of Section 7 of RA 9165.

At around 10 p.m. on June 17, Diaz was shot dead by Regional Intelligence Division-7 operatives and Las Piñas police at corner Gem and Narra road, Pilar Village in Barangay Almanza, Las Piñas City.

Diaz was killed barely a week after he granted an interview to the media in an undisclosed location where he said he no longer dealt drugs and planned to surrender to police. (FREEMAN)