Buy-bust op, drug den raid in Cebu City net 10 drug suspects, nearly P300K shabu

These are the nine men arrested during a raid on a suspected drug den in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City at past 1 p.m. on July 30. | PDEA photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — An early morning buy-bust operation and an early afternoon raid on a suspected drug den on Tuesday, July 30, in two Cebu City barangays led to the arrest of 10 persons and the confiscation of nearly P300,000 worth of suspected shabu.

First to fall was Cindy “Sidoy” Artajo of Barangay Tisa, Cebu City during a buy-bust operation conducted by the Abellana Police Precinct at past 3 a.m. of July 30 in Barangay Sambag, Cebu City 

Artajo was arrested after she was caught with 26 grams of suspected shabu in a buy-bust operation along N. Bacalso Avenue in the Barangay Sambag area, said Police Major Eduard Sanchez, Abellana Police Precinct in an earlier interview with CDN Digital.

Sanchez said the suspected shabu confiscated from Artajo had an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P176,000.

He said that they had targeted Artajo after they received reports that she would allegedly visit the Sambag area to allegedly sell illegal drugs.

Artajo was detained at the Abellana Police Precinct detention cell pending the filing of charges.

Later, at past 1 p.m. of the same day, July 30, a joint police team raided a suspected drug den in Barangay Mambaling in Cebu City, arrested nine men and confiscated an estimated P102,000 worth of suspected shabu.

Those arrested included their target Harold Joseph Fernando, who was the suspected operator of the suspected drug den, said Leah Albiar, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) spokesperson in a phone interview.

This was the third suspected drug den raided by the PDEA-7 this month. The first two were in Barangay Calajoan, Minglanilla town in southern Cebu and  Barangay Jaclupan in Talisay City. The Minglanilla raid was conducted on July 13 while the Talisay operation was done on July 15.

Read more: Calajoan ‘drug den’ raided; 8 arrested

Read more: PDEA agents arrest six in Talisay City drug den

Albiar said that the raid was a joint operation conducted by PDEA-7 and the Mambaling Police Precinct and they moved in on Fernando’s house in Sitio Puntod at past 1 p.m. where they arrested Fernando and eight other men, who were believed to be Fernando’s customers.

Aside from arrests, the joint police team also confiscated 15 grams of suspected shabu inside the suspected drug den, which had an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value of P102,000, said Albiar.

She identified those arrested aside from Fernando as Zesario Navaja II, Jesse Romante ,William Obligado, Clint Davis, Lucresio Fajardo Jr., Marcial Casilac, Ruben Carambias, and Arielito P. Bicar.

She also said that they also confiscated illegal drugs paraphernalia and cash, whom Fernando allegedly admitted to be proceeds of his illegal drug trade.

The nine drug suspects were detained at the PDEA-7 detention cell pending the filing of charges./dbs