Shabu bust in motel; pa, 3 others nabbed

Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, chief of the City Intelligence Branch, presents sachets of shabu seized during a buy-bust operation against Julito Montalba in a motel in barangay Carreta, Cebu City. (CDN Photo Lito Tecson)

Police seized about P3.5 million worth of shabu and arrested four suspected drug pushers including a father who brought along his wife and two children when he allegedly sold a pack of the illegal substance to a police decoy in a motel in Cebu City.

Julito Montalba was arrested Wednesday night in a motel room in barangay Carreta by operatives of the City Intelligence Branch of the Cebu City Police Office.

Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, chief of the CIB, said they may  file child abuse charges against Montalbo aside from violations of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

Montalba met with  the buyer, who turned out to be a police decoy, in a room in the motel.

Other CIB  members  waited in another room until the deal was done. They then arrested Montalba.

The operation yielded several packs of shabu with an estimated value of P1.1 million.

His two children cried upon seeing the police handcuff their father.

Montalba  denied owning the drugs  seized from him.

He said a man gave it to him shortly before he was arrested.

Santander said Montalba is a level 2 drug pusher who can dispose of  more than 200 grams of shabu a week.

Santander thanked the motel management for their  cooperation.   He urged all motel and hotel operators to inform them of any  suspicious activity in their establishment.

In Danao City, elements of the Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) seized P1.9 million worth of drugs in a simultaneous raid  in barangays Poblacion and Looc.

Packs of  shabu weighing around 65 grams with an estimated value of P700,000 were seized from Jason Tabla.

The raid in Tabla’s house in barangay Poblacion was implemented on the strength of a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 10 Judge Soliver Peras.

Senior Insp. Armando Labora, PIB team leader, said Tabla has been operating for one and a half years and that a cousin in jail for a drug case acts as his middleman.  His cousin communicates with the supplier through cellphone and drugs are  delivered directly to Tabla.

In barangay Looc, PIB operatives arrested Haide Batucan in a raid using a search warrant issued by RTC Branch 18 Judge Gilbert Moses.

Several packs of shabu amounting to P1.2 million and several drug paraphernalia were seized from Batucan whom Labora described as a level two drug pusher.

In Toledo Ciy, the local police raided the house of Jomike Cantalejo in barangay Cantabaco by virtue of a search warrant issued by RTC Branch 59 Toledo City Judge Hermes Montero and seized  about 50 grams of shabu estimated to worth P500,000.