Cebu a transshipment point, ‘bagsakan’ for illegal drugs
Suspected pusher Ramonito Regis (from left), his common-law wife Nerissa and son Ramie cover their faces while illegal drugs worth P3.2 million are presented at a Cebu City Police station. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)
Separate operations net over P4M worth of illegal drugs; family of ‘pushers’ nabbed
A senior police official in Central Visayas yesterday said the P25.9 million worth of suspected shabu seized in Bohol did not come from Cebu, but from Muntinlupa, Metro Manila.
“Based on our monitoring, igo ra moagi sa Cebu ang supply (the illegal drugs’ supply merely passes through Cebu). They can easily pass through Cebu by land.
Mahimo na siyang bagsakan before ihatag sa uban (Cebu serves as a distribution center),” Supt. Rex Derilo, acting head of the Regional Intelligence Division of Police Regional Office 7, told Cebu Daily News last night.
The Provincial Intelligence Police Office of Bohol arrested on Friday suspected drug queen Maida Quimson Jabines, 47, after a raid at her rented house yielded 2.2 kilos of suspected shabu with an estimated street value of P25.9 million.
Bohol Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio said the arrest of Jabines was “considered a major accomplishment by law enforcers consistent with the governor’s mandate of all-out war against illegal drugs.”
About 24 hours after the Bohol raid, a buy-bust operation yielded 275 grams of shabu (methampethamine hydrochloride) worth P3.2 million and resulted in the arrest of a family of suspected drug pushers in Sitio Sampaguita, Barangay Tejero, Cebu City.
Suspected level two drug pusher Ramonito Del Mar Regis, 48, was arrested on Saturday night after he allegedly sold to an operative of Regional Special Operations Group Central Visayas (RSOG) a medium pack of suspected shabu worth P3,000.
His common-law wife Nerissa Magbanua Aguilar, 35, and their son Ramie Regis, 18, were also arrested after packs of shabu were allegedly seized from them. All three are detained at the Cebu City Police Station 2.
The Regis family fell just a few hours after operatives of the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operat ions Task Group (RAIDSOTG) seized P1.2 million worth of shabu in a separate buy-bust operation in Barangay Camputhaw in Cebu City.
“Regis recently went back to the illegal drug trade after he was released almost a year ago from Muntinlupa,” Senior Insp. Ruel Burlat, team leader of RSOG team that raided the residence of Regis, told Cebu Daily News.
Burlat said they placed Regis under surveillance for one week and learned that the suspect can dispose of 300 to 500 grams of shabu per week.
“His area of operation is the whole barangay of Villagonzalo II. We are still verifying where he gets his supply but we are looking at the possibility that it might be outside Cebu,” Burlat said.
Police recovered 32 medium packs of suspected illegal drugs, two weighing scales used in repacking and three mobile phones during the operation. The items were brought to the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) for examination.
On Saturday morning, local police swooped down on 15 makeshift tents believed to have been used as drug dens near a cemetery in Barangay Sambag, Bogo City, northern Cebu.
Police arrested Melogin Cole Gonzaga, 22, the subject of the buy-bust operation, and his alleged cohorts Yvan Tundag Apostle, 20; Michael Manalili, 33; Johny Cabreros, 42; Jerry Radin, 43; Emar Malinao, 18; Niño Jay Mahusay, 21; Lawrence Damayo, 33; and Ricksmith Piamonte, 35. All are in police custody, pending the filing of charges of violation of Republic Act 9165 in relation to visiting a drug den.
But the target of the operation, Jeric Sentillas, 28, eluded arrest.
PO1 Alexander Ancao Jr., investigator of Bogo City Police, told CDN that Sentillas sold P300-worth of illegal drugs to a policeman posing as a buyer and offered the latter a ride to the makeshift tents.
“It could be that he was able to sense that there was something wrong with the transaction. As they were covering the short distance to the tents, Sentillas asked the poseur-buyer to disembark as he had to get something, then he fled on his motorcycle,” Ancao said.
Some 19 small packs of suspected shabu allegedly fell from the suspect’s pocket as he fled.
Police believed that Sentillas, a suspected member of the Montealto-Torion robbery drug group, has been operating the drug den.
Police recovered a sack half-filled with used tin foils and seven motorcycles, including three reassembled units, as well as motorcycle parts. Police are still checking if these are stolen items.
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