BY CALVIN CORDOVA
A former university teacher, allegedly a member of a drug syndicate operating in the National Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntilupa City, yielded more than P150 million worth of shabu during a police operation in Lapu-Lapu City on Wednesday afternoon.
Police Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, chief of the Police Regional Office Central Visayas, said the suspect, Gilbert Fuensalida Lumanog, 30, was arrested in Barangay Suba Basbas.
Police confiscated from him was 22.1 kilograms of shabu valued at P150,280,000.
“This is the biggest haul of drugs in my stint as the regional director of PRO7. I congratulate my men for this huge success in our war against drugs,” said Ferro.
Ferro said Lumanog is a native of Pinamungajan town, Cebu who formerly worked as a teacher in one of the universities in Cebu City.
The suspect is one of the top 10 high-value individuals involved in selling illegal drugs in the region, Ferro said.
Police Maj. Myla Maramag, chief of the City Intelligence Unit (CIU) of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LLCPO), said it took them one month of monitoring before the suspect was arrested.
Maramag said the information about the suspect’s illegal drug transaction came from the National Capital Regional Police Office (NCRPO).
The entrapment was carried out by operatives of the Regional Intelligence Division 7, Drug Enforcement Units of PRO 7 and NCRPO, and LLCPO’s CIU.
Maramag said the NCRPO had been monitoring a drug shipment, but the suspect was able to smuggle the illegal drugs to Cebu via land trip.
The seized illegal drugs were kept in tea packs with Chinese markings.
“The drugs were concealed in Chinese tea packs to avoid detection,” said Ferro.
Police said the suspect belonged to a drug syndicate operating in the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa City.
“I congratulate our police for this operation. They worked hard to seize this huge amount of shabu. I am calling on the people in Lapu-Lapu to cooperate by reporting illegal drug activities happening in their areas,” said Lapu-Lapu Mayor Junard Chan, who rushed to the area where the buy-bust took place. (Calvin D. Cordova)
