P200T of ‘shabu’ seized in Toledo

3, including a high-level pusher, nabbed by City Police

ABOUT P200,000 worth of suspected shabu were confiscated from three men, including a government employee, in back-to-back buybust operations in Barangay Bato, Toledo City, Cebu at dawn yesterday.

Operatives of the Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (PAIDSOTG) conducted the operation in Sitio Laguna in a bid to curb drug use and sale among young locals who reportedly patronize them, causing an increase in robbery incidents.

SPO1 Reynaldo Solante of PAIDSOTG identified the suspects as Ben A. Tubalado Jr., 40; Roel C. Alquiza, 37; and Alexis J. Caricari, 41.

Tubalado is assigned at the Toledo City Gov- ernment’s engineering department, while Alquiza was an ex-convict whose murder case was dismissed two years ago.

Caricari, on the other hand, is allegedly a leveltwo drug pusher, who can dispose of at least 50 grams of shabu a week worth P400,000.

Bust

The first operation was conducted at 1:45 a.m. when a poseur buyer bought a sachet of shabu worth P500 from Tubalado.

Tubalado, the subject of the operation, then called Alquiza to hand over the illegal substance that resulted to their arrest.

Confiscated from them were three small and 20 medium packs of shabu worth P21,500.

Solante, in an interview, said they conducted surveillance for a week on Tubalado.

“Ang mga residente nangreklamo na tungod sa nahitabo sa ilang lugar tungod aning shabu (The residents complained that everything happening in their place was caused by shabu),” he said.

Downfall

If Tubalado is arrested, his supplier is also going down with him. He squealed to police that Caricari, who lives nearby, is the “big fish” they should go after.

This prompted an immediate second operation at 2:15 p.m. Using a P500 marked bill, an undercover police tried to buy a sachet of shabu from Caricari.

“Napugos mi ug sud sa balay kay nakabantay siya namo nga police mi (We were forced to go inside the house because he noticed we’re policemen),” Solante said. The suspect wasn’t able to run.

Seized from Caricari were 20 large packs of shabu worth P160,000.

The confiscated white crystalline substance weighing almost 25 grams was sent to Philippine National Police Crime Laboratory 7 for chemical analysis.

The suspects were temporarily detained in Consolacion Police Station and will face charges for violating Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.