11 minors rescued, 400K worth of shabu seized, 4 people nabbed

HOTEL RAID IN COLON

Nearly half a million peso worth of illegal drugs were confiscated, 11 minors, allegedly used in the illegal drug trade, were rescued and four persons were arrested during a drug raid in a hotel room in Colon Street in Cebu City last Saturday.

Senior Insp. Christopher Navida, City Intelligence Branch (CIB) chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said they were surprised at finding 11 minors whose ages ranged from 11 to 17 years old inside the room when they moved to arrest suspects in the buy-bust operation inside a hotel room at past 6 p.m.

Navida said that they arrested Mae Maric Jakosalem, 19; Ann Abellana, 20; Wilfredo Gutas, 37; and Marlon Ylaya, 47, who were inside the hotel room.

Navida said that the drug suspects were all neighbors and residents of A. Lopez in Barangay Calamba, Cebu City.

He also said that they confiscated at least 120 grams of suspected shabu during the operation, which has a Dangerous Drugs Board value of P420,000.

“Nung nagconduct tayo ng buy-bust doon natin nakita sa room na merong mga minors (When we conducted the buy-bust operation we saw minors inside),” said Navida.

“Lumabas sa debriefing natin meron certain minors na ginagamit sa illegal transactions nila (We found out later when during our debriefing with the

minors, that certain minors were used in the illegal transactions),” Navida said.

He said the minors told us that they were used to get the illegal proceeds and deliver and pickup the illegal drugs.

He said that they were able to question the minors in the presence of Senior Insp. Shiela Gurtieza, CCPO Women and Children Protection Desk.

He said they had been monitoring two drug suspects, which led them to the hotel room in the downtown area.

He said that the the suspects used the hotel room as their repacking area, where the peddlers remit their illegal proceeds, and sometimes sell shabu.

He said that the hotel management also cooperated with the police in the operation since they (police) had been monitoring the suspects for about two weeks and their operation inside the hotel room.

Gurtieza, on the other hand, said that the minors would be held at the Cebu City Police Office until they could be turned over to the Cebu City Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS).

Gurtieza also said that there’s a possibility that some of the minors might be charged depending on the recommendation of the social welfare officer, who would do a case study on the minors.

“Nanawag ta nila para case study aning mga bata. Posibleng maka face og charges ni sila punishable for six years. It is up to the social worker kung unsay nakita nila sa interview morecommend sa charges (We also called on them (DSWS) to do a case study on the children. It is possible that some of

them may face charges punishable to six years. But it will be up to the social worker and her recommendations after they interview the children),” Gurtieza said.