Three men and a woman were arrested during a buy-bust operation in Barangay San Vicente, Liloan town in northern Cebu at past 2 a.m. today, Oct. 15. | Photo courtesy of CPPO
CEBU CITY, Philippines — An employee of the Cebu City Local School Board is among four people arrested in a buy-bust operation in a rented house in Barangay San Vicente, Liloan town in northern Cebu, where P170,000 worth of suspected shabu was confiscated.
Hanna Niña M. Dela Cuesta, 35, a Cebu City Local School Board employee, was inside the rented house of the policemen’s target — Cielo C. Abella, 31, whom police considered as a high value individual (HVI), when the buy-bust operation was conducted at past 2 a.m. of Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, said Police Lieutenant Colonel Randy Korret, head of the Intelligence Unit of the Cebu Police Provincial Office (CPPO).
Two other men, who were also inside the house of Abella, were also arrested.
They are Chilo Roy L. Dumaguit, 38; Abnier D. Batoctoy, 38, who are residents of Barangay Tilhaong, Consolacion town in northern Cebu.
Korret also said that Abella and Dela Cuesta were both from Barangay Labangon in Cebu City.
Police confiscated 25 grams of suspected shabu from the suspects, which has a Dangerous Drugs Board value of P170,000.
Korret said that they found out about where Dela Cuesta worked through the identification card that they found on her.
Based on our initial investigation, Korret said that it turned out that Abella and Dela Cuesta were close friends, and they allegedly were involved in selling and using illegal drugs.
Korret said the CPPO Intelligence Unit had been monitoring Abella’s illegal activities for three weeks before the operation against him was conducted.
Korret said that Abella had been on CPPO’s list of drug personalities, whom they considered as a high value individual (HVI).
He said that Abella could dispose from 100 grams to 200 grams of illegal drugs in a week.
The four suspects were detained at the Liloan Police Station detention cell pending the filing of charges./dbs