Two men, including an alleged snatcher, are arrested during a buy-bust operation on Thursday evening, March 17, 2022, in Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City. | Photo courtesy of Talisay City PS
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Talisay City policemen are investigating if the alleged snatchers, who were arrested during separate buy-bust operations in the past six days, belonged to a drug group operating in Cebu and Talisay cities.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Randy Caballes, chief of Talisay City Police Station, said they were checking this possibility after the arrest of Ruel Deiparine, 36, and Rodolfo Mendoza, 48, who were caught with 15 grams of suspected shabu, during a buy-bust operation in Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City on March 17.
Caballes said that the market value for 15 grams of suspected shabu was P102,000.
A .357 revolver was also confiscated from Deiparine’s posession.
The Talisay police chief also said that Deiparine of Barangay Tabunok, Talisay City had been arrested in 2018 in Cebu City for snatching.
This was the second arrest of an alleged snatcher in a buy-bust operation in Talisay City this month.
The first one was Mac Gerald Abella, 29, whom Caballes described as a “notorious snatcher”, who was arrested for snatching in Cebu City.
Abella of Barangay Tisa, Cebu City was caught with 10 grams of suspected shabu during the anti-illegal drug operations on March 12, 2022 in Talisay City.
The Talisay police chief said that they found out that Deiparine, who is also known as “Pawikan,” was also arrested for snatching in Cebu City about four years ago.
Caballes said that Deiparine, who is 36 years old, allegedly started engaging in snatching activities when he was still 25 years old.
With the arrest of Deiparine, Caballes said that they were checking if the former belonged to the same drug group as that of Abella.
He said that the operation against Deiparine was conducted after they received reports about his alleged involvement in illegal drug activities since December 2021.
Caballes said that Deiparine’s areas of operation allegedly included other sitios of Barangay Tabunok in Talisay City.
He said that Deiparine could allegedly dispose 15 grams of ‘shabu’ in a week.
Deiparine and his cohort were detained at the Talisay City Police holding facility near the Talisay city hall pending the filing of charges.
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