High-value target hiding for months falls in Cebu City buy bust
These are the items confiscated from a high-value target who was caught during a buy bust operation in Barangay Sambag 2 on Tuesday dawn, September 10, 2019. | contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines —A woman considered as a high-value target (HVT) who has been evading the police for about five months was finally arrested along Visitacion Street in Barangay Sambag 2, Cebu City, on Tuesday dawn, September 10, 2019.
Mary Joy “Joy-Joy” Lavistre Villamala, 25, and a resident of Sitio Lower Kawayan, Barangay Sambag 2, Cebu City, was caught during a buy-bust operation conducted by the Abellana Police Station, together with the Regional Drug Enforcement Unit (RDEU), and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Central Visayas (PDEA-7).
Seized from Villamala was an estimated 200 grams of suspected shabu with a dangerous drugs board (DDB) value of P1,360,000.
Police Major Eduard Sanchez, chief of the Abellana Police Station, told CDN Digital that it took them a while to arrest Villamala as she kept transferring from one place to another within Cebu City.
“Nag lisod mi ani niya kay sige balhin-balhin unya mo tungha dayun kalit napud kawala,” said Sanchez.
(We were having a difficult time locating her because she kept transferring, she would reappear but then disappear again.)
It was not until the last two weeks that they finally locked in on Villamala.
Sanchez said Villamala was placed in the HVT list as she is able to dispose at least one kilo of shabu every week since the police received reports about her involvement with drugs five months ago.
He also said that Villamala may have possibly taken over supplying the clients of her older brother, who was shot dead in an armed encounter with authorities in 2016.
While the opearation led to the arrest of Villamala, Sanchez said the investigation will still continue as they try to trace the other cohorts of Villamala and also try to find out the possibility of her being a member of a big-time drug group in Cebu City. /bmjo
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