12 arrested for illegal drugs, guns

CEBU, Philippines - At least 12 persons, including an Australian national, were arrested in separate police operations in Lapu-Lapu City and in Cebu province.

In Lapu-Lapu City, operatives of Gun-ob Police Station 3 nabbed an Australian and eight others inside a drug den in Barangay Poblacion yesterday morning.

Arrested were Paul Cooper, 51; vendors Jeralyn Andrade and Rubylyn Labe, both aged 30; Desiderio Ortega, 40; Jonas Ybañez, 19; Nicanor Suarez, 36, from Punta Princesa in Cebu City; Jaime Babatuan, 41, a PUJ dispatcher from Barangay Cogon in Cordova town; Ronnie Villantes, 44, of Sitio Seawage, Barangay Pusok; and Lito Santos, 48 from Purok Judas Belt, Barangay Babag II.

An estimate P35,000 worth of illegal drugs were confiscated from them.

The police swooped down on a shanty around 11:45 a.m. along Mangubat Street, 100 meters away from the Police Substation 3 in Barangay Poblacion.

Cooper, a resident of Barangay Bankal who is engaged in selling DVDs, denied involvement in the drug session and claimed that he was just collecting money inside the den.

“When I walked in, the police were there already. So, what’s my violation?” he told reporters.

But Police Senior Inspector Wilbert Parilla, station chief of Gun-ob Police Station, said Cooper had previous drug involvements and was arrested twice.

Some of the people inside the den fled upon seeing the presence of the police through the closed-circuit television cameras.

The shanty has four small cubicles with tables reportedly used for the illegal activity.

Authorities confiscated a computer monitor, two CCTV cameras, a digital weighing scale, an orange container used for storing cash, two shotguns and drug paraphernalia.

Sogod operation

Meanwhile, a suspected Level 2 drug pusher was arrested by the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group-7 in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Kalumboyan, Sogod town past 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Roderick Ruiz was arrested by the police after he sold a pack of suspected shabu to a police poseur-buyer worth P200.  

Senior Inspector Joey Bicoy, of RAIDSOTG-7 said the operation stemmed from a report they received from a walk-in complainant.

The suspect is said to be operating quite some time and has been selling drugs openly in the area where gambling is also rampant.

“Naka-create na man og samok, naay sugalan didto, didto ra pud namaligya… ang complainant wa na ka-agwanta,” Bicoy said.

A poseur-buyer asked the suspect to sell him a pack of shabu, which the suspect did in exchange for P200.

The suspect yielded 56 small packs and a medium pack of suspected shabu weighing 10 grams and worth P118,000 based on the Dangerous Drugs Board estimates.  The police have also confiscated a caliber .38 revolver with five live ammunition, a mobile phone, and P330 cash.

San Remigio operation

Meanwhile, a suspected drug pusher was arrested in a buy-bust operation past 11 p.m. on Tuesday in Barangay Hagnaya, San Remigio town.

Felixberto Baas, 34, was arrested after he sold a pack of suspected shabu to a police officer.

On the other hand, Edilberto Colantes, was arrested by the police following a complaint from residents who claimed he possessed a gun.

The police recovered a 9mm pistol with four live ammunition and two small packs of suspected shabu from the suspect. — (FREEMAN)