Negros Occidental policeman nabbed in P151K drug bust

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Police operatives arrested a policeman who is on absent without leave (AWOL) since 2014 during a buy-bust over the weekend at Ramos Subdivision, Barangay 4 in Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental.

Police Officer 1 Math Mercano, 38, a high-value drug suspect, was apprehended together with his wife Liam Kim, 39, at their residence where P151,000 worth shabu was also seized, according to a PNA report.

Personnel of Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Unit, headed by Chief Inspector Mark Anthony Darroca, conducted the operation with assistance from Kabankalan City Police Station in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency-Region 18.

Darroca said Mercano, formerly assigned at Kabankalan City Police, is believed to be a supplier of illegal drugs in Kabankalan with sources from Metro Manila.

Mercano, who went AWOL after he was tested positive for illegal drugs, is considered the one drug personality in the city police’s drugs watchlist.

During the buy-bust, the suspect sold a sachet of shabu to a poseur-buyer for P100, and also yielded two more sachets of the illegal substance.

Operatives also recovered inside the couple’s house 14 sachets of shabu, drug paraphernalia, five cellphones, and other gadgets, and P70 in cash.

The couple’s alleged drug runners, Mompo Cavile and Valentine Bravo, were the subjects of a search warrant, but they were not around during the raid. (FREEMAN)