Operatives conduct and inventory of the seized drugs in Medellin. (CONTRIBUTED)
More than P15.3 million worth of suspected drugs were seized in a raid by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Central Visayas (CIDG-7) in the house of a suspected drug dealer in barangay Lamintak, Medellin town, northern Cebu on Thursday morning.
Senior Supt. Marlon Tayaba, CIDG chief, said the suspected drug pusher, former seaman John Neil Cabatingan, managed to escape.
The raid follows a three-week surveillance and was bolstered by a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 61 Judge Antonio Marigomen of Bogo City.
Recovered from Cabatingan’s house were drugs weighing 1.2 kilos with an estimated street value of P15.3 million and P33,000 cash proceeds.
The raid came two days after operatives of the Provincial Intelligence Branch raided the house of Ariel Ortega, a known drug dealer and resident of barangay Lamintak Norte, Medellin town.
They seized P1.4 million of illegal drugs but Ortega escaped. Three of his cohorts were arrested while one of them was killed.