| Photo courtesy of San Fernando Police Station
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) did not prevent three men from Talisay City to travel to San Fernando town to deliver P1 million worth of suspected shabu to a buyer there.
But the suspects were arrested in a buy bust operation in Barangay Pitalo at around 9:30 p.m. on Monday, May 11, 2020.
Police Staff Sergeant Paul Baclay of the San Fernando Police Station identified the suspects as Vergel Zafra Luna Jr., 26; Carlo Collados, 26; and Anthony Zafra Balmori, 34.
Baclay said they placed the suspects under surveillance for three weeks after they received information in their illegal drug activities.
Luna and Balmori are cousins, who come from Barangay Cansojong in Talisay City, while their friend, Collados, is from Barangay San Roque.
Baclay said that Luna, who was the subject of their operation, is able to dispose of more than 300 grams of illegal drugs per week. He would travel to San Fernando to sell drugs to buyers in the southern Cebu town.
Luna was already jailed in 2018 for an illegal drug case but was released a year after he entered into a plea bargain.
But his arrest did not prevent him from pursuing his illegal drugs business.
Quoting the outcome of their initial investigation, Baclay said that the suspects got together shortly after Luna’s release from detention and started to sell drugs in Barangay Tangke in Talisay City. But they moved their operation to San Fernando town in January 2020 because of checkpoints and other strict police monitoring that were implemented in Tangke.
Luna said they continue to conduct follow up investigations to especially determine where the suspects would source their illegal drugs. Their investigation will also include the determination as to how they managed to get past the police checkpoint in the absence of quarantine passes.
“Amoa pa gina investigate gi unsa nila but kaning mga involve sa drug mangita man gyud nig pamaagi nga maka baligya,” said Baclay.
(We are still trying to determine how they made it to San Fernando town, but nothing will stop these drug suspects from continuously operating.)
Baclay said that complaints for the violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 are now being prepared for filing against the three men, who are now detained at the detention facility of the San Fernando Police Station. / dcb