Two AWOL cops arrested for drugs
FIVE days after President Rodrigo Duterte tagged several policemen in Cebu as ‘drug addicts’ and ’drug pushers,’ two policemen in the province, who have been Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL) were arrested in separate operations for allegedly peddling illegal drugs.
On Saturday evening (August 25), the drug enforcement unit (DEU) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) arrested former PO2 Julius Nacua, 46, in his residence at Barangay Kamagayan, Cebu City during a buy-bust operation.
The DEU team led by Insp. Jackyll Bilibli, recovered illegal drugs and Nubain valued at P118,000 from Nacua. They also confiscated several drug paraphernalia such as tin foil strips and lighters.
“Nacua’s last assignment was in Bohol, and he went AWOL since 2003,” Bilibli said.
The former policeman will be placed under the custody of the CCPO as charges of violation of Section 11 and 12 of the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 (Republic Act No. 9165) are being prepared.
Bilibli also said Nacua’s name is in Barangay Kamagayan’s Drug Watchlist.
“But when we conducted the buy-bust against him, that’s when we just discovered that he was a former policeman who went AWOL,” he explained.
On the other hand, law enforcers from the Santa Fe Police Station in Bantayan Island, located 132 kilometers northwest of Cebu City, also arrested another cop who went AWOL, who is also allegedly involved in the illegal drugs trade.
The suspect was identified as PO1 Alberto Veliganio.
Over P144,000 in illegal drugs and paraphernalia were allegedly confiscated from Veliganio, 46, when he was arrested in his house in Barangay Talisay, Santa Fe last Friday when police served a search warrant on his house, issued by the Toledo Regional Trial Court Branch 29.
Insp. Raul Nalzaro, chief of Santa Fe Police Station, told Cebu Daily News that Veliganio’s list assignment before going AWOL was at the Regional Mobile Force Battalion of the Police Regional Office – 7 (PRO – 7).
“As far as we know, he was last assigned in Negros Oriental. Records showed that he was an AWOL cop for more than 10 years,” he added.
Nalzaro said Veliganio, who is now detained in Santa Fe Police Station, is his former classmate when they were both recruited into law enforcement through the Regional Training Center.
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