P4M stash: She sells seashells, along with ‘shabu’

Government agents arrested in Lapu-Lapu City yesterday morning a 57-year-old woman who allegedly sold shabu.

The capture of Marrietta Fernandez Selerio, a seashell vendor, was the second time in just two months that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) confiscated an illegal drug stash valued at more than P4 million.

A seashell vendor, who has an alleged connection with a drug syndicate, yielded P4.7 million worth of “shabu” to anti-narcotics agents in a drug bust in Barangay Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City yesterday morning.

Marrietta Fernandez Selerio, 57, is an alleged underling of slain alleged drug lord Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria, who was killed in a police operation in Banacon Island, Getafe, Bohol in May last year.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)-Central Visayas information officer Leia Albiar said agents seized 950 grams from Selerio, who is listed as a high-value target.

The suspect’s arrest is the second operation where PDEA agents seized more than P4 million worth of shabu. The first drug bust happened last month, leading to the capture of businesswoman Marie Ann Maglasang, 42, and her alleged boyfriend Christopher Cobrado, 41, in San Francisco, Camotes.

Albiar said Selerio, who runs her business in Carbon Public Market in Cebu City, could dispose of three to four kilos of “sha- bu” per week.

The suspect owns a parlor, apartment and other properties in Cebu.

Albiar described Selerio as elusive, saying the latter often visited her three children, who are working as nurses in Australia.

Last Tuesday night, police arrested a suspected underling of self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones in a buy-bust in Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City.

Seized from suspect Agustin Cabriles Delfin were 50 grams of “shabu” worth P575,000. A .45 pistol, with a silencer and loaded with five bullets, and an airgun were also confiscated from him.

Cebu City Police Office Direc- tor Joel Doria said his intelligence operatives are investigating Delfin’s connections.

In PDEA’s operation, Albiar said agents monitored Selerio for three months and confirmed her involvement in narcotics.

Selerio allegedly sourced her supply from a drug personality in Luzon, but she told agents that she had stopped selling drugs after she was caught with her husband in 2002.

Complaints for violating Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, will be filed against the suspects. Selling shabu is a non-bailable offense and punishable by life imprisonment. /