BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Four Negrenses were among those arrested in separate buy bust operations in northern Luzon that yielded P2.72 billion worth of shabu and P1.7 million worth of illegal drugs in Cebu, respectively, records of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and Philippine National Police showed.
P/Lt. Judesses Catalogo identified the three arrested drug suspects as Jenson Rey Yago, 29; Ritchell Repuesto, 28, and John Paul Repuesto, 18, all of Barangay Codcod in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental.
According to PDEA Director General Wilkins Villanueva, the seized illegal drugs were packed and labeled as Chinese Tea.
PDEA reports said that the arrests of Yago and Ritchell Repuesto with a Chinese national, at Pozorrubio, Pangasinan on August 12, yielded about 360 kilos of suspected shabu worth P2.4 billion.
A follow up buy bust operation at San Fernando in La Union, led to the arrest of John Paul Repuesto and another drug suspect that yielded another 40 kilos of suspected shabu estimated at P272 million.
Following arrests of three Negrenses in La Union and Pangasinan, Catalogo said their initial investigations showed that Yago and two Repuestos have not been home in San Carlos for a long time, and their names were not included in the drug watch list of the city police.
He, however, said that investigations are still underway to determine if they have links to the illegal drug trade in Negros Occidental.
In a statement, the police also reported the apprehension of Raffy Hermona, of Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, in another buy-bust operation on Aug. 13, that resulted in the seizure of 1.17 kilos of suspected shabu with a market value of P7.4 million in Toledo City, Cebu.
The Toledo City Police tagged Hermona, 35, as a ‘high value target’ in illegal drugs.*
