Shabu worth P7.4M seized; 2 suspects fall

CEBU, Philippines — Despite the granular lockdown being enforced in Sitio Eyha, Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City, it appears to be business as usual for illegal drug peddlers.

In a buy-bust operation at the sitio late Tuesday evening, police operatives arrested two “high-value individuals” who yielded 1.1 kilos of suspected shabu worth P7.48 million.

Sitio Eyha is among the areas in Cebu City that have been placed under granular or localized lockdown since late July to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus. The lockdown there has not been lifted yet.

Police Major Randy Caballes, chief of the intelligence unit of Cebu City Police Office, identified the suspects as Michael Gacrama Cavan, 42, and Felix Hipolito Nisnisan, 34.

Both are residents of the barangay and were tagged as high-value individuals in terms of the volume of illegal drugs they can dispose of weekly.

Caballes said the suspects could sell up to one kilo of illegal drugs per week in areas like Guadalupe, Mambaling, Pardo, and Duljo in Cebu City.

“These two went in and out and then back in to the illegal drug business. In 2013, Michael was arrested, and was released the following year. In 2016, he was arrested again and was freed just this May,” Caballes told reporters in Cebuano.

He said that they first received information saying that Cavan was still engaged in the illegal activity after his recent release from jail. From there, Cavan was subjected to surveillance, in which his shady deals were confirmed.

Cavan and Nisnisan are currently detained at the CCPO detention facility pending the filing of appropriate charges against them for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

Pandemic haul: P54 million

From April 10 to August 10, CCPO has confiscated shabu worth P54.8 million from the series of operations that were conducted even in the midst of the pandemic.

CCPO Director Colonel Josefino Ligan said that his office has carried out a total of 261 anti-illegal drug operations during the period that resulted in the arrest of 376 drug suspects.

In those operations, more than eight kilos of shabu with an aggregate value of P54,888,784 have been recovered.

For Ligan, this only proves that even with the strict security and quarantine protocols, there is no stopping the illegal drug operators.

“These criminals would find a way to earn income. As for us, the police, we have not been remiss in our work. We continue to do our job even under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ),” Ligan said.

“We are zeroing in on criminality and illegal drugs so the operations also continue,” he added. /JMD (FREEMAN)