Cebu City raid: PDEA closes canteen crew member’s ‘drug den’; 4 nabbed
Authorities raid a suspected drug den in Barangay Busay on July 3 and confiscated some P88,400 worth of suspected shabu and arrested 4 individuals including the suspected drug den maintainer.| PDEA via Paul Lauro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A canteen crew member, who also allegedly operated a suspected drug den in Barangay Busay, Cebu City, will instead be doing time in jail soon after authorities raided and shut down his illegal drug business on Monday, July 3.
According to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Cebu Provincial Office (PDEA Cebu) in its report, that they arrested John Spencer Patalinghug during a buy-bust operation in his house in Sitio Kalubihan of the barangay.
READ: Cebu City drug raids: 2 suspected Brgy. Luz drug dens shut down; P176,800 shabu seized
13 grams of suspected shabu
PDEA Cebu Provincial Office operatives caught Patalinghug with 8 packs of suspected shabu weighing 13 grams.
Authorities said that the suspected shabu had a market value of P88,400.
They also described Patalinghug as a canteen crew member.
READ: Suspected drug den shut down; P115,600 ‘shabu’ seized in 2 drug busts in Cebu City, Siquijor
‘Drug den’ visitors
The anti-drug raid, which was conducted at past 2 p.m. of July 3, was a joint operation of PDEA Cebu Provincial Office operatives and Cebu City Police Office Station 4 or the Mabolo Police Station.
Aside from Patalinghug, authorities also arrested three other individuals, who were considered as alleged visitors of the suspected drug den.
They were identified as Lester Loma, 30, a waiter; Rafie Camacho Collantes, 30, a flower vendor; and Delfin Laurnilla, 27.
The four suspects were detained at the PDEA detention cell pending the filing of charges.
READ: Suspected drug den closed, P150,000 shabu seized, brothers nabbed in Punta drug raid
Third drug den closed in three days
This is the third drug den to be shut down by authorities in three days in Cebu City.
On July 1, 2023, PDEA-7 agents and Mabolo Police Station policemen raided two suspected drug dens in Barangay Luz, Cebu City.
Authorities confiscated P176,800 worth of suspected shabu and arrested eight individuals including the two suspected drug den maintainers.
READ: Boy, who allegedly ran Tagbilaran ‘drug den’, rescued; 4 others arrested
Community’s help cited
Leia Albiar, PDEA-7 spokesperson, said during a July 2 interview that the operations were successful because of the help of the community.
Albiar said that the existence of those drug dens in Barangay Luz were reported by concerned citizens to authorities.
She said they verified the information and monitored the illegal drug business for nearly a month before conducting the anti-illegal operation against them.
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