Splintered into small gangs — PNP

TECSON

Does the group of slain drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz continue to operate?

Questions over the continued operation of people who belonged to Jaguar’s drug gang surfaced following the arrest at dawn yesterday of an alleged hit man and at the same time a drug courier of the slain drug lord in Barangay Basak San Nicolas, Cebu City.

While the arrest of Joselito Tecson, 36, was a result of pending arrest warrants, police were still verifying if he was among Jaguar’s underlings who were believed to have continued what Jaguar had left behind, by operating their own smaller drug rings.

Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), yesterday admitted they were conducting an investigation to find out from whom drug personalities connected to the group of Diaz get their supply of shabu now that their leader is dead.

Not formidable

“Nagkawatak-watak na sila. Wala pa tayong information sino ang pumalit kay Jaguar kasi nagkanya-kanya na sila. Kahit saan-saan na lang sila kumukuha ng supply ng drugs (The group disintegrated after Jaguar was killed. We don’t have any information yet as to who took over the place of Jaguar. Members of the group are now getting drugs from different suppliers),” he said, citing intelligence reports.

Taliño said they would continue monitoring the members of Jaguar’s group that they had so far identified and would operate against them once their links to new drug syndicates had been validated.

However, Senior Supt. Joel Doria, director of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said Jaguar’s group is no longer as formidable as it was when he was still alive.

“What is left now are just remnants of his syndicate. We will get all of them,” Doria said in separate interview.

Jaguar, tagged as the biggest drug lord in Central Visayas whose base of operation was his home in Barangay Duljo Fatima in Cebu City, was killed by the police in Las Piñas City last June 17.

Doria also said they have yet to determine who replaced Jaguar as leader of the group, which went deeper underground after he was killed.

“They have been very discreet with their operations since then (Jaguar’s death). They were no longer as open as before. We will identify all of them and conduct an operation to arrest them,” he said.

Breakthrough

The arrest of Tecson could be the breakthrough that the police needed.

Tecson did not resist arrest and was brought to the CCPO, where he is currently detained.

Senior Insp. Narrolf Tan, chief of the City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (CAIDSOTG), said they were looking for Tecson for two months.

“Nagsige na siya og balhin-balhin kay nagtago tago naman. At least nakuha gyud nato siya (He was transferring from one place to another. He went into hiding. At least, we were able to finally catch him),” he told Cebu Daily News.

Operatives of CAIDSOTG and the City Intelligence Branch led by Chief Insp. Christopher Navida served on Tecson three warrants of arrest issued by two Cebu Regional Trial Court (RTC) judges.

One of the pending arrest warrants was issued last April by RTC Branch 57 Presiding Judge James Stewart Ramon Himalaloan who had ordered Tecson’s arrest on charges of violating Republic Act 9165 for selling illegal drugs.

RTC Judge Sylva Aguirre-Paderanga, on the other hand, issued two arrest warrants also in April against Tecson for unlawful possession of explosives and for illegal possession of firearms.

Tecson was tight-lipped when asked about his participation in Diaz’s illegal drugs trade.

“Wa ko kahibawo ana (I don’t know about that),” he said.

Tomorrow, he will be presented to the courts that issued the arrest warrants, Tan said.

Caught

Tecson, who had been on the lam for two months, apparently thought the coast was clear enough for him to return home.

He was watching television when the police barged into his residence in Barangay San Nicolas and caught him at around 2 a.m. on Saturday.

Tan said Tecson peacefully submitted himself to the police.

“We are trying our best to arrest all members of big-time drug operators. We worked hard to find him (Tecson). We are happy to arrest him,” Tan said.

Meanwhile, Tan and his team also arrested a 36-year-old suspected drug pusher in another operation in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City, at Saturday dawn.

Roselyn Navarro was arrested after she allegedly sold a pack of shabu to an undercover policeman.

Recovered from Navarro was shabu (methamphetamine) weighing 10.68 grams valued at P126,024.

Tecson and Navarro are now included in the growing list of drug suspects in Central Visayas nabbed by the police since President Rodrigo Durterte assumed office on July 1 this year.

Based on the records of PRO-7, at least 1,047 drug suspects were arrested since July 1. Another 205 individuals were killed in alleged shootout with the police while 146 persons were gunned down by still unknown assailants.