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[av_heading heading=’Another village chief nabbed for shabu, gun’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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Monday, January 30, 2017
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ILOILO City – Another barangay captain was arrested for illegal drug and gun possession.
From his house in Barangay San Salvador, Banate, Iloilo the 52-year-old Rogelio Balotir was taken to the detention cell of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) in Iloilo City.
PDEA operatives raided Balotir’s house around 9:30 a.m. yesterday. They were armed with a search warrant from Judge Rogelio Amador of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 66.
The operatives recovered from Balotir’s house nine sachets of shabu, a .45 pistol and nine bullets.
According to Inspector Ferdinand Punzalan, Banate police chief, Balotir was a newly identified drug pushing suspect.
“As a barangay captain, he was cooperative in our campaign against drug trafficking but we recently received information that he was into illegal drugs,” said Punzalan.
Aside from a charge of violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 for shabu possession, Balotir also faces a complaint for illegal gun possession.
Punzalan said the village chief failed to present documents to show his legal ownership of the .45 pistol recovered in the house.
Balotir was arrested 11 days after the barangay captain of Agcuyawan Calasada, Barotac Nuevo town was busted for shabu. An unlicensed gun was also recovered in his house.
But 39-year-old Lester Bawe denied being either a peddler or user of shabu. He claimed he was unfairly being targeted because of his brother Levy, a murder suspect who remains at large.
PDEA operatives arrested Bawe around 9:15 a.m. on Jan. 18 after one of them managed to buy a sachet of shabu from the suspect for P1,000.
According to Chief Inspector Raymond Celoso, Barotac Nuevo police chief, Bawe was a high-value drug target and had long been under surveillance.
The police recovered four more big sachets of shabu worth P25,000 from the suspect, plus an unlicensed .45 pistol.
“Last year, we noticed that several persons were coming in and out of his house. We monitored his movements and discovered that he was into the illegal drug trade,” said Celoso./PN
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