ILOILO City – One of the two illegal drug suspects the police were trying to catch at a beach in Barangay Santo Niño Norte, Arevalo district on Monday has escaped.
Coreolo De Guzman of Barangay General Hughes, City Proper was their target.
But De Guzman was quick to flee after selling to a poseur buyer four plastic packs of suspected shabu for P4,600, a police report showed.
His “conspirator” – Bushssein Castillo, 27, of Barangay Santo Niño Sur, Arevalo – was caught. Castillo yielded four more plastic packs of the same substance, the report stated.
Officers from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Region 6, Regional Drug Enforcement Unit of the Police Regional Office 6, and the Arevalo police station staged the operation at around 1:30 a.m.
Detained in the Arevalo police station lockup cell, Castillo denied selling drugs.
“Indi na akon. Ginapaduhol lang na (It’s not mine. I was just asked to hand it over to someone),” Castillo said of the recoveries.
Somebody persuaded him to give the substance – contained in a plastic bag placed inside a paper bag – to someone in exchange for cash and a cellphone, he said. He claimed he did not know who he was dealing with.
“Wala ko idea. Contact na nila ang hatagan ko. Indi ko man kilala ang babaye nga nagpalihog sa akon,” Castillo told Panay News.
Pressed for his source, he said, “Pangayaw lang na di sia. Sa Facebook ko lang na sia nakilala kag gina-contact.”
Moreover Castillo insisted that he did not hand over the plastic bag to anyone – he placed it on the shore a few meters from where he sat and the police picked it up.
“Wala na nila nakuha sa akon gid kundi sa kilid ko lang,” he said. “Kag wala ko kabalo nga amo na kadako ang unod sang plastic na nga nakabutang sa paper bag.”
Castillo admitted that he was once a drug user who turned himself in to the police as part of the government’s crackdown on users and peddlers.
He claimed he had undergone rehabilitation but failed to complete it after figuring in a vehicular accident.
De Guzman remained at large as of this writing. He and Castillo face charges for violation of sections 5 (selling), 11 (possession) and 26(b) (conspiracy) of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002./PN
