Cops seize P2.3M shabu, nab house owner’s niece, neighbor

Drug suspects Charity Ruiz and Jericho Rondina are being questioned at the Mambaling Police Precinct after their arrest on Friday.
CDN PHOTO/BENJIE B. TALISIC

4th RAID in DULJO HOUSE IN A YEAR

Four separate raids in a year on a sprawling house in Sitio Lawis, Duljo Fatima in Cebu City, has led to the arrest of the house owner’s daughter’s boyfriend, house owner’s brother, and her two other relatives, with her niece being the latest to fall after she was caught with P2.3 million worth of suspected shabu on Friday (Sept. 28).

Chief Insp. Randy Caballes, Mambaling Police Precinct commander, said in an interview on Saturday, that Charity Ruiz, who is in her mid-20s, was caught with 200 grams of suspected shabu during a buy-bust operation in the house owned by her aunt, Honey Gadianne, on Friday evening.

Caballes said that the joint police operation, which was led by Supt. Jose Liddawa, deputy chief of the Drug Enforcement Group Visayas (DEG Visayas), were also targeting Gadianne especially since this was the fourth time they had raided her house this year.

However, Caballes said that Gadianne was not in the house when the operation happened.

Caballes said that they were also after Gadianne since they also received reports about her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade.

He said that on the previous raids this year, they arrested Gadianne’s daughter’s boyfriend Bjun Padilla; Gadianne’s brother, Dennis; and a relative, Jonalyn, who was also known as Negra.

Aside from Ruiz, who is also known as Chacha, police also arrested during Friday’s buy-bust operation, Jericho Rondina, 18, a neighbor of Ruiz and Gadianne.

Caballes said that they found inside the house two large packs, which allegedly contained shabu, weighing 200 grams and with a Dangerous Drugs Board value of P2.3 million .

Friday’s joint operation of the Mambaling Police and the Regional Mobile Group (RMG-7) and DEG Visayas (Special Operations Unit 5) led by Liddawa was conducted after they verified Ruiz’s alleged illegal activities.

Liddawa, in a separate interview, said that they started monitoring Ruiz after they received information about her illegal activities.

He said that they allegedly found out that Ruiz’s operation also included some parts of Metro Cebu.

He also said that they were now looking into Ruiz’s source in her illegal drug trade.

Ruiz and Rondina were detained at the Mambaling Police Precinct detention cell pending the filing of charges.