4 nabbed in buy-bust charged

CEBU, Philippines - Four persons who were arrested in a recent anti-drug operation in Barangay Kinasang-an-Pardo, Cebu City that yielded a hundred grams of suspected shabu will now have to answer criminal complaints before the prosecution office.

 Leia Albiar, public information officer of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-7, said the office filed Thursday complaints for violations of the Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) against Junefer Soquite, 31; Ryan Delar, 28; Rotsen Cabanaga, 22; and Rogelio Rustata, 20.

Soquite and Delar will face charges for allegedly selling and possessing illegal drugs, while Cabanaga and Rustata will be charged for possession of illegal drugs.

If found guilty of selling illegal drugs, a person may face imprisonment from  12 to 20 years, while life imprisonment will be imposed upon those who will be found guilty of possession of dangerous drugs.

The four suspects were caught allegedly selling and in possession of dangerous drugs in an entrapment operation.

The buy-bust operation was conducted at around 4:30 p.m. on Monday at Caltex Station in Barangay Kinasang-an-Pardo.

PDEA-7 disclosed that the suspects were placed under surveillance for a week already.

During the operation, a PDEA-7 agent acted as poseur-buyer of the drugs.

Soquite and Delar transacted with the poseur-buyer, while Cabanaga and Rustata served as lookout.

After the transaction was consummated, the authorities then arrested the suspects.

Seized from the four suspects were a total of five packs of suspected shabu weighing approximately 100 grams and were valued at around P320,000. The P1,000 buy-bust money was also recovered from Soquite.

The suspects are currently in the custody of PDEA-7. (FREEMAN)