ILOILO City – Two suspected illegal drug dealers have been arrested in Barangay Taal, Molo district.
Robert Garcia, 28, was a seafarer while friend Cris Jan Sol, 26, was a call center agent, authorities said. Both were residents of Barangay Barrio Obrero, Lapuz.
The suspects had a deal with operatives of the Police Regional Office 6’s Regional Drug Enforcement Unit for the sale of two big sachets of shabu for P10,000, police said.
They agreed to meet in Barangay Taal at 3:30 p.m. on June 9. A police officer who acted as buyer arrested and brought them to the Molo police station, said Senior Inspector Kennith Bermejo, RDEU chief.
Police further seized 70 sachets of shabu contained in the blue bag of Garcia. These had an estimated street value of P100,000.
Bermejo said they have been trying to get in touch with Garcia since last year when they classified him as a “high-value target” (HVT) in their antidrug campaign.
“Garcia was scheduled to get on board for work at the time,” Bermejo said of the seafarer. “We lost contact, and then we learned that he went home just this month.”
Bermejo claimed Garcia was connected with another HVT, Ken Mark Pineda of Molo.
Pineda was arrested in September 2016 in Barangay Quintin Salas, Jaro.
He was connected with the slain drug lord Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr., also known as “Dragon,” Bermejo said without disclosing how.
Pineda was detained at the Iloilo District Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo. He already had a pending warrant of arrest for a drug trafficking charge.
When he was arrested, Pineda yielded suspected shabu with an estimated value of around P300,000.
According to Bermejo, Garcia gets his drug supply from a certain “Tol” of Bacolod City.
“Garcia would personally get the supply from his source who travels via roll-on, roll-off transport,” said Bermejo. “The source would then head back to Bacolod to evade arrest.”/PN
