Former policeman caught with shabu in Lapu-Lapu
Former PO1 Nick Arthur Rebecca is arrested for posing as a police officer and for possession of illegal drugs and paraphernalia. | Norman Mendoza
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu — A former policeman was caught in possession of illegal drugs and paraphernalia at past 3:00 p.m. today April 30, 2020 at the vicinity of a hotel in Barangay Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City.
The suspect was identified as former PO1 Nick Arthur Rebecca, 34, a native of Dipolog City, Zamboanga del Norte but presently residing at Barangay Bali-Bali, Compostela town in northern Cebu.
The suspect was found out to be a dismissed Police Non- Commisioned Officer (PNCO), said Police Lieutenant Colonel Mark Gifter Sucalit, Chief of City Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office.
Sucalit said that Rebecca was assigned at the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) when he went absent without official leave (AWOL) and was dismissed from service last year.
Sucalit said he did not know the details of why Rebecca went AWOL as a policeman but they were doing a background check on the suspect.
Initial investigation showed that the CIU conducted the operation against Rebecca after they received a call from a concerned citizen about a suspicious man in a hotel Mactan Island.
The caller told police that the man introduced himself as a policeman.
A CIU team led by Police Captain Felix Cleopas III was formed to apprehend the suspect.
Cleopas and his team arrested the suspect as he was about to leave the hotel.
A search incidental to a lawful arrest of the former policeman was then implemented, where they found in Rebecca’s position 1 sachet of suspected shabu weighing 0.8 grams or with an estimated Dangerous Drugs Board value of P5,440.00.
Aside from that police also confiscated drug paraphernalia from Rebecca such as 2 disposable lighters and 5 pcs aluminum foil strips.
They also confiscated the expired PNP ID of the suspect, driver’s license, 1 laptop, 2 Samsung phones and assorted pawnshop receipts.
Sucalit said that the former policeman was meeting someone at the hotel.
The suspect was detained at the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office pending the filing of charges of usurpation of authority and possession of illegal drugs and drug paraphernalia./dbs
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