Four drug suspects were arrested during a buy-bust operation in Zone Lato, Barangay Kalawisan, Lapu-Lapu City on Wednesday afternoon, July 17. | PDEA-7 Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Tips from concerned citizens led to the arrest of four suspects inside a drug den in Zone Lato, Barangay Kalawisan, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, on Wednesday afternoon, July 17.
According to authorities, the Lapu-Lapu drug bust was conducted at around 3:10 p.m.
The operation was led by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) with the Philippine National Police (PNP) Regional Intelligence Unit 7 and Gun-ob Police Station.
It resulted to the successful arrest of the suspects and the shutdown of the alleged drug den.
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The subject of the Lapu-Lapu drug bust and alleged drug den maintainer was identified as Macvie P. Cabalhug, 34.
Meanwhile, an alleged drug den employee identified as Montano B. Alarde, 35.
Also arrested were two alleged drug den visitors namely, James Kingsley V. Alcala, 34 and Anthony E. Toring, 31.
All four suspects were reportedly unemployed.
Law enforcers confiscated twelve a total of 12 packs of suspected shabu weighing around 12 grams.
The seized pieces of drug evidence had with an estimated average market value of P81,600.
In addition, they confiscated various drug paraphernalia during the Lapu-Lapu drug bust.
Leia Alcantara, PDEA-7 spokesperson, said that they conducted a 3-week case buildup and gathering information on the suspects.
This was after they received information from concerned citizens on the suspects’ illegal activities.
She stated that Cabalhug typically disposes of 10–15 grams of illegal drugs per week.
As of this writing, all of the arrested suspects in the Lapu-Lapu drug bust are in the custody of authorities pending the filing of appropriate charges against them.
They will be facing charges for maintaining and visiting a drug den, possession of illegal drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia, and conspiracy.
The police and anti-drug authorities have been conducting routine drug busts but still illegal drugs continue to circulate in the metro.