By MARIE TONETTE MARTICIO
TACLOBAN City – Police operatives seized 88 kilos of shabu worth around P600 million from two vehicles at a checkpoint in Barangay Brgy. Buñagan, Gandara, Samar, Thursday night.
BRIG. Gen. Dionardo Carlos, Eastern Visayas police director, said this is their biggest seizure in their anti-illegal drugs campaign in the region so far.
Carlos revealed that the seized illegal drugs have the same packaging as that of 9.7 kilos of shabu recovered last August in Biri, Northern Samar.
“During my watch, ayoko ng ganitong mga discovery ng shabu that’s why we worked to watch our shorelines and our ports. Because of that lead, nagsimula kaming tumingin if there were previous transport of illegal drugs with the same packaging. Our RDEU (Regional Drug Enforcement Unit) alarmed our line units during our regular weekly oversight committee meetings to follow up and eventually we had a breakthrough through our intel and deputy regional director for operations that they were being transported within our area of responsibility,” he disclosed.
They also learned that a shipment was transported from Matnog, Sorsogon to Allen and San Isidro Port in Northern Samar, which prompted them to conduct checkpoints.
The confiscated illegal drugs allegedly came from two different sources in Imus, Cavite; and a mall in North EDSA, Quezon City.
Capt. Joselito Tabada, Gandara Police chief, said that the two vehicles — a gray Mitsubishi driven by one Cesar Uy with two passengers identified as Steven Perez and a minor; and a black Nissan Sentra driven by Elbert Abella with passengers Jeralou Laborte and Leonard delos Reyes — were heading to Ormoc City when they were flagged down at a checkpoint on Maharlika Highway.
Officers of Gandara Municipal Police, Samar Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit and Regional Drug Enforcement Unit searched the two vehicles.
During questioning, the suspects, who claimed to be not acquainted with each other, allegedly met at Coral Reef Resort in Calbayog City upon the instructions of their boss whom they refused to identify.
“We were supposed to ride the ship going to Cebu from Calbayog City and leave the vehicle, including the keys at the parking lot of (the mall) in Mabolo. We were given P20,000 initially and were promised to receive P50,000 each after the transaction,” Uy said in a media interview.
They also admitted they know that they were transporting contraband but did not know its worth. The gray car contained 25 packs or 50 kilos of alleged shabu while the black car was carrying 19 packs or 38 kilos.
“My friend who used to deal drugs offered me a job because I was a user then. We had our first transaction in August this year where we traveled from Manila to Cebu via cargo shipping in Calbayog City. But since there was no ship today, we decided to proceed to Ormoc going Cebu. We didn’t want to wait in Calbayog because the owner kept on calling us and was in a hurry,” Uy revealed.
The apprehended suspects and the seized items were brought to the police station and will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
