Cebu City Police Office confiscates P5.7 million worth of suspected drugs from Jhonrey Balolong, 36, of Sitio Kilawan, Barangay Tangke, Talisay, Cebu during a buy-bust operation at past 8 p.m. on January 4, 2019. | Contributed Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A total of P6.3 million worth of suspected shabu was confiscated in three separate anti-illegal drug operations in Cebu City on January 4, 2020.
The Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City, buy-bust operation along the South Road Properties (SRP) yielded the biggest drug haul for the day with P5.7 million worth of suspected shabu and the arrest of a regional high value target.
Read more: Drug bust in Cebu City’s SRP yields P5.7M ‘shabu’
Police Major Randy Caballes, Cebu City Police Office-City Intelligence Branch (CCPO-CIB) chief, said that they arrested Jhonrey Balolong, 36, of Sitio Kilawan, Barangay Tangke, Talisay City, Cebu at past 8 p.m. during a buy-bust operation.
Balolong was caught with 850 grams of suspected shabu.
Caballes said Balolong was on their regional list of high value targets and he could dispose at least one to two kilos of suspected shabu in a week in Cebu.
He also said that they placed Balolong under surveillance for a week after they received reports about his alleged illegal activities before they conducted the buy-bust operation against him.
Caballes also said they were investigating if Caballes was a member of a bigger drug group and they were also trying to find out who his supplier was.
The other two buy-bust operations happened at dawn in Barangay Guadalupe. First to fall were cousins Jeffrey Paloma, 24, and Irene Cabornay, 19, of Sitio Capaculan, Barangay Tisa, Cebu City.
Read more: CCPO drug haul: P30.6 million ‘shabu’ in first 3 days of 2020
Paloma and Cabornay were caught with 50 grams of suspected shabu with a Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value of P340,000, said Police Captain Janelito Marquez, Guadalupe Police Station chief.
Marquez said that Paloma and Irene Cabornay were a nephew and niece respectively of a drug suspect, who was arrested with P13.8 million worth of suspected shabu during a January 3, 2020 buy-bust operation in the barangay.
Paloma was allegedly the target of that operation but he managed to escape then.
Marquez said that Paloma was also in the list of the regional high value targets and he was believed to dispose from 200 grams to 300 grams of shabu in a week.
Next to fall was Rodel Panuncialman, 19, in a followup operation along R. Duterte Street, Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City.
Panuncialman was caught with 50 grams of suspected shabu, which has an estimated DDB value of P340,000.
Balolong was detained at the Mambaling Police Station detention cell while the three others were detained at the Guadalupe Police Station detention cell pending the filing of charges. | dbs