Electronics graduate nabbed with P1.3 shabu in Labangon bust

Alex Alfanta of Barangay Labangon, Cebu City is caught with P1.3 million worth of suspected shabu in a buy-bust operation in the barangay on April 27. | Benjie B. Talisic

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A desire to make a fast buck and build his savings for his soon-to-be-born child and his pregnant girlfriend ended in disaster for a 25-year-old Electronics graduate.

Alex Alfanta, who graduated from an Electronics course in the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, was arrested with 200 grams of suspected shabu during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Labangon, Cebu City on April 27, said  Lieutenant Colonel Glenn Gonzales, Police Drug Enforcement Group Visayas (PDEG Visayas) in an interview with CDN Digital.

Gonzales said that the illegal drugs had an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value of P1.3 million.

Gonzales said that they had placed Alfanta under surveillance for a week after a drug suspect whom they earlier arrested pointed to Alfanta as the source of his drugs.

He said that they only learned of Alfanta’s alleged involvement in the illegal drugs business a week ago.

Read more: Four Cebu City drug busts in 7 hours yield P6.9M shabu

Alfanta, who was detained at the Punta Police Precinct detention cell, told CDN Digital in an interview on Saturday, April 27, that he only wanted to make more money to save for his pregnant girlfriend.

He said that he was forced by circumstance to gamble on being a drug courier because he got his girlfriend pregnant.

He said he wanted to save money for his soon to be born child.

He said he moonlighted as a trisikad driver at the time when he learned that he got his girlfriend pregnant.

He said a fellow trisikad driver, who was named RJ, convinced him to allegedly become an illegal drugs courier to earn money.

He saidhe decided to give it a try and earned money in the first couple of deliveries until Saturday, April 27, when police officers moved in and arrested him.

And Alfanta ended up staying in a detention cell with an uncertain future in jail instead of sleeping with his girlfriend at home with the promise of raising a family.