CPDRC visitor hides drugs in hotdog bun

CEBU, Philippines - A woman who was about to visit her live-in partner detained at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center also ended up in jail after she allegedly tried to sneak in a vial of liquid shabu by hiding it inside a hotdog bun.

Liberty Antiporta, 38, of Cordova town was reportedly bringing food for her live-in partner, Reynaldo Baguio, Saturday afternoon.

Jail guard George Veloso noticed though during an inspection that one of the seven hot dog buns she was bringing was oddly hard, which prompted him to check what was inside and found a vial containing liquids.

Jail warden Romeo Manansala said they initially suspected the content of the vial to be Nubain while Antiporta insisted that it was just facial cleanser.

The CPDRC management turned over the suspected drug to the Philippine National Police Regional Crime Laboratory-7 for testing.

Yesterday, test results showed that the content of the vial was liquefied methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu).

Manansala said they will file charges against Antiporta for transportation of dangerous drugs.

Section 5 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 provides that a person who transports any dangerous drugs should be meted a penalty of life imprisonment to death, and a fine from P500, 000 to P10 million.

Because of the incident, Manansala said they are eyeing to prohibit jail visitors from bringing facial cleansers, as part of the facility’s stricter security measures.

The CPDRC management earlier implemented a policy which also prohibits visitors from bringing canned goods inside the facility.

Last year, three visitors of CPDRC were arrested after trying to sneak in nubain. Ampules of the regulated drug were concealed in a bucket of ice cubes, while some were hidden inside the underwear of one of the visitors.

In the same year, shabu packs concealed inside packs of torta were also seized from a detainee who came from a hearing in Argao.

Pusher arrested

Meanwhile, a suspected drug pusher was arrested yesterday afternoon in a buy-bust operation in Barangay Tugbungan, Consolacion town that resulted to the confiscation of at least P700,000 worth of shabu.

Mouzel "Madam" Cuizon, was arrested by the operatives of the Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group and Provincial Intelligence Branch past 1 p.m. yesterday.

Senior Inspector Leo Logroño, PIB deputy chief, said that the suspect is one of the 10 Priority Target Personalities involved in Illegal Drugs in Oplan Lambat-Sibat of the PNP.

Logroño said that a poseur-buyer bought P500 worth of shabu, the minimum amount that Cuizon sells to a customer, at her rented house in Tugbungan, Consolacion.

After she handed over the shabu and took the buy-bust money, the poseur-buyer announced that he was a police officer and arrested her while the rest of the operatives swooped in.

The police recovered 10 large packs, five medium packs, and one small pack of suspected shabu weighing 60 grams and valued at P708,000, based on the Dangerous Drugs Board estimate.

Logroño said that Cuizon is included on the list of 10 priority drug personalities in the province.

“Top 10 sa Lambat-Sibat target. Last year ni siya nagsugod bag-o lang siyang nidako considering sa kapaspas sa distribution,” Logroño said.

Her arrest stemmed from a two-week surveillance operation conducted by PAIDSOTG and PIB.

Cuizon’s father was reportedly a former municipal councilor of Consolacion but the suspect lives on her own and has started selling drugs after she left her family. — Bryner L. Diaz and Michael Vencynth H. Braga/ATO