Cabanatuan City – Drugs in this city come from Bulacan?
This question cropped up after police here arrested 3 drug pusher groups and a Bulacan-based drug supplier all in a single day simultaneous buy-bust operations around the city where all the illegal drugs apparently came from Bulacan.
In his report, PSupt Ponciano Zafra said 12 drug personalities belonging to 3 drug groups were arrested.
He identified the first group to be entrapped as Edgar Ramos , alias J-A, 42, Villa Benita Subdivision, Barangay H. Concepcion, this city, Melissa Lepcia, alias Liza, 34 of Barangay San Vicente, Gapan City, Ariel Del Ponso, alias Kalbo, 53, and Iluminada Delos Santos, alias Lulu, 49, both of Poblacion, Plaridel, Bulacan who were entrapped in Villa Benita Subdivision, Barangay H. Concepcion.
Ramos said, Delos Santos and Del Ponso, who both hail from Bulacan, supplied the shabu confiscated from their group. Twenty sachets of shabu were seized from them.
The second group of drug peddlers Zafra said were nabbed at their “hide-out” in Barangay Lourdes who were Vergel Puno, 37, and another minor.
Thirteen sachets of shabu were confiscated from Puno and Salinas
The third group were Jerico Dante Listerio, 34, of Barangay Dulong Bayan, Quezon, Leny Santos, 31 of Barangay Mayapyap Sur, Patrick Anthony San Gabriel, 33, Ernani Coguiz, 33, a government employee, and Alberto Garcia, 33, all resident of Barangay Mabini Extension, this city, who were the first group rounded up.
The five suspects yielded 18 sachets of shabu which they say came from supplier who is also from Bulacan province.
Also arrested was Bulacan-based Marilou Calceta, 41, of Sitio Tubigan, Gayagay, San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan, who was entrapped at the Central Terminal Station just after she arrived from Bulacan.
Two bulging sachets and a retail-sized sachet of shabu, besides the retail-sized meth, were seized from Calceta. Calcet is reported to be a “regular supplier” of illegal drugs from her hometown San Jose Del Monte.
“We are closely validating this information (drugs coming from Bulacan) and our drug problem will not end for as long as there are suppliers from outside. Hence, our focus now is how to stop the inflow (of drugs) into our city” Zafra said.
“Despite our determined efforts, new groups and individuals come out as drug pushers and suppliers. Since July last year, we have arrested 338 drug personalities, most of them are pushers, from our 208 anti-drug operations. This includes the 131 arrested, within the last almost 3 months. Yet almost every day, new drug users and pushers are reported to us”, Zafra disclosed.
In a related development, barely a week ago, the Tarlac Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) headed by PCInsp Jerrald Jake Manguerra arrested in a police raid a “new drug dealer” Norberto Ramos who said his supplier of shabu is a certain “Pogi” from Plaridel Bulacan.
More than 15 grams of shabu was seized from Ramos.
The 12 persons arrested by Zafra’s police team are detained at this city’s police station./Nelson Bolos