Jaguar buddy nabbed
Jaguar buddy nabbed
“HAYAHAY ko sa una kadtong buhi pa si Jaguar (My life was much better when Jaguar was still alive),” said Joselito “Otik” Arellano, 46.
Arellano, the alleged righthand man of top drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz, reminisced
the days when he was still working for Diaz.
Arellano, also Diaz’s former driver and bodyguard, was arrested by the City Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Group (Caidsotg) 7 and the City Intelligence Branch (CIB) of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) at 6 a.m. yesterday in Barangay Basak San Nicolas, Cebu after three months of surveillance.
Two men said to be his bodyguards were arrested with him.
Arrest warrant
A warrant of arrest for robbery with violence or intimidation against a person had been issued by Judge Antonio T. Echavez of the Regional Trial Court Branch 8 against Arellano.
Chief Insp. Cristopher Navida, CIB head, said Arellano had lain low when President Duterte assumed office “but we’re sure that his illegal transactions continued.
Arellano was considered a level 2 drug pusher and a high-value target.
In an interview, Arellano said he was always contacted by Chinese businessman Peter Co through text for Diaz’s drug supply to be shipped from Muntinlupa City to Cebu City.
He said he earned as much as P50,000 every time he facilitated the shipment of shabu from Manila to Cebu.
He would get a bonus if Diaz transacted a bigger deal.
“A person from Muntinlupa would call me and say, ‘Hey man, we have work tomorrow and I already gave your number to the Chinese,’ so by night or by afternoon, the Chinese will text me: ‘ Man, let’s meet at Jollibee Southmall and there’s a car key there; ‘but he would only tell me where the car is on the next day’,” Arellano said.
Prison mates
His friendship with Diaz started when he was serving time for robbery in the then Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation center (BBRC), now the Cebu City Jail, in 2004.
They grew close and when Arellano was released in 2008, he went to Manila to work as a driver of the drug lords’ bagmen who ship the drug supply to Cebu.
Arellano also served time at the National Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City for nine months.
In 2014, Diaz reportedly stopped his drug syndicate upon the pleas of his wife. From then on, everything went downhill for Arellano.
Jaguar was killed in an encounter with police at 10:40 p.m. of June 17, 2016 in Las Piñas, Metro Manila.
That was the time Reynaldo “Jumbo” Diaz, Jaguar’s cousin, allegedly took over his drug syndicate.
Jumbo was arrested in Sorsogon, Bicol Region three months later, on Sept. 19.
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Arellano said Jaguar had stopped his drug business and Jumbo had taken over. Jumbo had two transactions with him (Arellano) but Jumbo stopped his operation because Jaguar disapproved of it, “gisamokan na siya.”
The police confiscated a large plastic pack and three medium packs of suspected shabu at 40 grams with worth about P472,000 based on the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value.
Arellano’s area of distribution includes Pardo and Basak San Nicolas in Cebu City and Pakigne in Minglanilla town.
Although he admitted that he is a user, he denied that he sold drugs.
“Dugay na gyud ko walay pangita sukad nihunong si Jaguar (It’s been a long time since I earned drug money after Jaguar stopped),” he said.
Bodyguards
Arellano’s bodyguards were also arrested for obstructing authorities from arresting him and for carrying a caliber .38 revolver loaded with five live bullets and a colt 9mm improvised revolver with four live bullets.
Police identified them as Emerson Villafuerte, 45, and Kim Jan Arellano, 24, Arellano’s nephew.
Both will face complaints of qualified direct assault, obstruction of justice and illegal possession of firearms.
“We considered their position as bodyguards so it’s possible that when the direct arresting team tried to handcuff Otik, they raised their guns. Otik was hysterical and shouted at us too,” Navida said in Tagalog.
However, the three men denied carrying the drugs and firearms.
Navida said that Joselito Tecson, 36, an alleged hitman and courier of Diaz who was arrested on Dec. 4 for illegal drugs and illegal possession of firearms was also connected to Arellano.
Bean-spilling
They traced Diaz’s underlings through a matrix and continued their surveillance.
Arellano also named four police non-comissioned officers (PNCOs), three of them were active, while one went absent without leave (Awol) and a barangay official in Cebu City as the ones who protected Diaz’s business.
Their names were first texted to Gen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa’s Text Bato hotline and was forwarded to the office of the regional director and down to the city director who then gave it to the CIB.