Cebu City police catch two suspects, seize nearly P10M in shabu

Close to P10 million worth of shabu were seized from two drug suspects in two separate drug busts in Cebu City.

In barangay San Nicholas, police arrested 37-year-old Catalino Dingding Oliveros Jr. at past 4 pm last Tuesday. Taken from his possession were packs of shabu worth P3.5 million.
Supt. Christopher Navida, City Intelligence Branch (CIB) chief of the Cebu City police, said they learned about Oliveros’s illegal drug activities through Riza Mae Cabigon, a Grade 12 programming student.

Cabigon was arrested in a drug Barangay Duljo-Fatima last Saturday. Cabigon told police that she sourced her supply from Oliveros.

Hours after Oliveros’ arrest, another drug bust by city police resulted in the arrest of 44-year-old tombstone maker Joel Castro. Police took from Castro’s house located in Barangay Carreta about P3.5 million worth of shabu.

Senior Supt. Joel Doria, Cebu City police chief, said it was Oliveros who identified Castro as keeping illegal drugs for distribution. Both men said they only kept drugs for safekeeping and refused to identify their sources.

Doria said Oliveros was previously jailed for illegal drug charges and after being released, starting selling shabu sourced from Luzon through an inmate at the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

“The illegal drugs are being transported from Luzon by cohorts who pretend to be tourist backpackers. They ride RORO (roll-on/roll-off) boats and they mixed the illegal drugs with their clothes to avoid detection,” Doria said.

Doria said the city police will train port security personnel to detect those passengers who try to smuggle shabu.