7 smoking pot arrested

Seven people were arrested while two minors were rescued after the police caught them smoking marijuana in plain view in Barangay Poblacion, Sibonga, Friday evening.

Chief Inspector Stephen Amamag-id, Sibonga police chief, said that they received a report from a concerned citizen about alleged suspicious people in the area and they decided to conduct a joint operation with the Regional Public Safety Battalion.

They later came upon Edgar Embalsado, 18; Roderick Barte, 22; Gideon Paul Calonia, 23; James Kirby Burgos, 21; Stephen Sumalinog, 22; Jade Mora, 18; JR Retardo, 18; and the two minors allegedly smoking marijuana.

Amamag-id said that six of the arrested personalities, as well as the minors, were from Cordova town. Allegedly, the group went to Sibonga to celebrate the fiesta with their friends.

Amamag-id said that the group was really into smoking marijuana. During questioning, the suspects admitted that they had been using marijuana for quite some time already.

"Pawala ra daw ni sa ilang kakapoy ang marijuana," said Amamag-id.

The suspects also admitted that they got marijuana from a source in Danao City.

Fifteen packs of dried marijuana leaves and drug paraphernalia were confiscated from the suspects. They are now detained in the Sibonga lock up cell, while the two rescued minors were referred to the social welfare office of the town for custody.

Meanwhile in Cebu City, the operatives of City Intelligence Branch seized almost P300,000 worth of suspected shabu and arrested an alleged drug pusher and two users in a buy-bust operation in Sitio City Central, Barangay Luz, Friday evening.

Police identified the suspects as Jeanrose “Jenjen” Carredo, 25; Jollry Lim, 20; and April Jane Jumao-as, 19.

Carredo was found with seven packs of suspected shabu value at P295,000 while Lim and Jumao-as each yielded one small pack of suspected shabu.

Earlier around 4:30 p.m. that same day in Sitio Tangasan, Barangay Valladolid, Carcar City, Robert Eballe, a resident of the said place, was arrested after selling drugs to a poseur-buyer.

Carcar chief of police, Chief Inspector Jose Liddawa, said the suspect was a former drug surrenderer in the station and also a high-value target.

He added that initially Eballe was not included in the station's high value target list. However, they were able to arrest a female drug suspect who tipped them about Eballe's illegal operation.

Liddawa added that Eballe's connections were from Leyte. He allegedly sells illegal drugs in the city and nearby towns.

After the buy-bust operation, operatives recovered another eight packs of suspected shabu from the suspect and P1,200 believed to be drug money.

The illegal drugs seized weighs 16.20 grams and was valued at P191,160.