Drug courier spends birthday behind bars

CEBU, Philippines – A man will spend his 21st birthday in jail today after he was arrested with close to P12 million worth of suspected shabu during a buy-bust operation in Tres de Abril Street, Barangay Labangon, Cebu City at past 2 a.m. yesterday.

Police arrested Genes Ermitanio, 20, after the latter handed over a paper bag containing one kilo of suspected shabu to a poseur buyer.

The poseur-buyer transacted for a kilo of shabu worth P400,000 using boodle money.

Ermitanio tried to escape arrest when he sensed that he was being trapped but he was eventually accosted by cops who pursued him.

The police recovered the buy-bust money and the shabu that is subject of the buy-bust operation.

Supt. Romeo Santander, chief of the city police’s intelligence branch, said the suspect admitted to being a courier but denied owning the shabu.

Santander said they conducted non-stop surveillance prior to the bust.

“Sige ra g’yud ni siya’g balhin-balhin, amo g’yud ni siyang gipanid-an naabot g’yud og duha ka bulan usa nakuha nato siya,” he said.

For his part, Ermitanio said the first transaction he engaged in went smoothly but he felt something strange yesterday.

“Nibalik ko sir kay paminaw nako naglain man g’yud akong pamati pero nadakpan man hinoon ko,” he said.

He said he would have used the money from his work to buy candles for his dead mother and for his birthday celebration.

Santander said Ermitanio was arrested in 2013 for his involvement in a robbery incident in the Banawa area in Cebu City.

Santander said the shabu seized from Ermitanio is valued at P11.8 million.

The suspect is detained at the stockade of the Cebu City Police Office and will charged for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

This year, so far, the CIB has confiscated shabu worth a total of at least P20 million. — (FREEMAN)