Three separate drug busts by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) and the City Intelligence Branch (CIB) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) led to the seizure of over P5 million worth of shabu and the arrest of four suspected drug dealers.
PDEA-7 scored big when a operation at 7:30 p.m. of Saturday in front of the Bliss Elementary School in Barangay Labangon, Cebu City netted for the agency over a kilo of shabu worth P4.3 million.
But while PDEA agents were able to arrest the courier — pedicab driver Mark Gonzales, 21 — the alleged drug trader, identified as Junmar Umpad alias “Avatar” was able to elude arrest.
PDEA-7 director Yogi Filemon Ruiz said Umpad is one of the 19 drug lords in Central Visayas and believed to be a “new” drug lord who was a remnant of the drug gang led by the late Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz, who was killed last year in an encounter with the police in Las Piñas City.
Ruiz said Umpad’s operation covered the southern part of the city, to include Barangays Pasil and Labangon, where he can dispose from one to two kilos of shabu in a week.
Ruiz described Umpad as elusive, who kept on transferring from place to another to evade arrest.
He said Gonzales was arrested after he handed to an agent posing as buyer 100 grams of shabu sold for P360,000 in marked and bogus bills.
But when they frisked Gonzales, they found he was carrying a kilo more of the prohibited drug that was stashed inside an adult diaper and believed to be intended for another buyer.
Gonzales, in an interview, claimed the packages came from Umpad and he agreed to deliver them for a fee of P1,000 because he needed to buy milk for his two-month-old son.
At about the same time on Saturday, CIB agents led by Chief Insp. Christopher Navida operated in Quijano Compound, Barangay Calamba that led to the arrest of a mother-and-son tandem of Gemma Bulambao, 51, and Gemrob Bulambao, 25, from whom police seized several packs of shabu with a total value of P613,600.
Gemrob Bulambao has been on the drug watch list of the San Nicolas Police (Station 6) but did not surrender during Operation Tokhang, said Navida.
Shortly before midnight, a CIB team also led by Navida conducted another drug bust in Sitio Mahayahay, Barangay Calamba that led to the arrest of an alleged pusher, Judith Verdesola, from whom 10 grams of shabu worth P118,000 were seized.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, meanwhile, lauded PDEA 7 and the CIB for their accomplishments and announced he plans to revive his P50,000 reward for any policeman, and this time a PDEA agent, who killed a drug suspect in a legitimate operation.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
