BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN / ADRIAN P. NEMES III
A former member of the Philippine Army and nine other drug suspects were apprehended in anti-drug operations of the police in Negros Occidental and Bacolod City Tuesday and yesterday, that yielded about P488,000 worth of suspected shabu.
The joint operation of the police and the Regional Mobile Force Battalion 6, in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, in Purok Sambag, Brgy. 6, Kabankalan City, led to the confiscation of 60 grams of suspected shabu, worth P408,000.
Nabbed during the buy-bust operation were Rolly Dofeliz, an Army soldier who had gone Absent-With-Out-Leave in 1993, and Edmar Santa Ana, of Brgy. Binicuil, Kabankalan City.
The operation also yielded a 357 Smith and Wesson revolver with six ammunition, a gun holster, P500 in marked money, P1,300 in cash, and a cellular phone.
Another buy-bust operation in Brgy. Guinhalaran, Silay City, led to the arrest of Arnel Dumrique, alias Botoy, and the confiscation of about five grams of suspected shabu, with a market value of P34,000, P1,500 in marked money, and P356 in cash.
Two other drug suspects, identified by the police as Ryan Carnecer and Romel Mergar, were arrested in Escalante City, Negros Occidental, also for violation of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
The arrest of Carnecer and Melgar yielded one gram of suspected shabu, worth P680, a cellular phone, and P500 in marked money.
The arrest of Reagan Paul Javier in Brgy. Purisima, Manapla, and of Roy Arquillo in Brgy. Paraiso, Sagay City, also yielded P8,000 worth of suspected shabu, P700 in marked money, and shabu paraphernalia.
In Bacolod City, about P38,000 worth of suspected shabu was seized by operatives of the Bacolod City Police from three drug suspects they arrested in barangays 11 and Taculing, Bacolod City, yesterday and Monday.
P/Major Sherlock Gabana, BCPO spokesperson, said that Station 6 policemen arrested George Ramos of City Heights Subdivision in Brgy. Taculing, and Roy Aguilar, 42 of Ramylu in Brgy. Tangub, after one of them handed a sachet of suspected shabu to a police poseur buyer at about 2 p.m. yesterday.
An additional 12 heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets of suspected shabu, valued at P23,800 and weighing about 3.5 grams and an improvised tooter were recovered from Ramos and Aguilar after their arrest, Gabana said.
He said Ramos is considered a street level individual drug personality.
At about 5:30 p.m. Monday, policemen arrested Minda Escatin, 24, of Purok Cadena De Amor, Brgy. 11, in a buy-bust operation near her residence.
Confiscated from her were 23 sachets of suspected shabu, valued at P15,000 and weighing about 2 grams, P500 in buy-bust money, and a cellular phone, police records showed.*
