Armed man pursuit leads to P1.3-M drug cache

Police seized an estimated P1.3 million worth of suspected shabu and illegal gambling machines and arrested a man for illegal gun possession Wednesday night in simultaneous raids in three barangays in Cebu City.

Police arrested Richard Nabua, who was caught with a .45 cal. pistol in barangay Calamba.
Supt. Romeo Santander said Nabua was cornered in his house where he tried to hide when he saw policemen closing in.

Santander, chief of the City Intelligence Branch (CIB) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said his men noticed the unusual bulge in Nabua’s waistband, prompting them to suspect that he was armed with a gun.

Santander said it was when they were inside Nabua’s house that they found plastic bags suspected to contain shabu.

Nabua however, denied owning the contraband and instead pointed to his son, Jerome, as the owner of the drug cache.

Destroyed on the spot

In separate operations in barangays Pasil and Ermita, CIB operatives seized 38 video karera and moli-moli machines.

The illegal gambling machines were smashed on the spot with a sledgehammer.

Santander said they made the move to emphasize the message to the public that the police are serious in the illegal gambling campaign.

“We destroyed the machines right away to erase doubts that the police would return them to their owners instead of destroying them,” Santander said in Cebuano.

Senior Supt. Noli Romana, chief of police of Cebu City, witnessed the destruction of the illegal gambling machines. He said said more raids will be conducted to rid the city of illegal gambling operations.

Pasil barangay councilman Gadwin Catingog thanked the police for the operation.

“Some parents are wasting their money on illegal gambling instead of of spending it for their family,” said Catingod./WITH A REPORT FROM CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON