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BY RUBY P. SILUBRICO
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ILOILO City – A nephew of suspected drug lord Richard Prevendido was arrested in Barangay Bakhaw, Mandurriao district yesterday.
The 33-year-old Norberto Prevendido was taken to the Mandurriao police station after selling shabu to an undercover police officer around 3:15 a.m.
The Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Task Group (RAIDTG) and Mandurriao police seized from the suspect six big sachets of shabu worth P20,000.
Prevendido’s live-in partner, the 21-year-old Nicca Dela Cruz of Barangay Calaparan, Arevalo district, was also arrested.
But there was still no sign of the suspect’s uncle in Barangay Bakhaw, police said.
“It took us several days to arrest Norberto. He was very elusive,” said Superintendent Ramil Gallardo of RAIDSOTG.
The police, however, remained clueless on Richard Prevendido’s whereabouts. On Aug. 16, no less than the director of the Iloilo City Police Office, Senior Superintendent Remus Zacharias Canieso, visited Prevendido’s house in Barangay Bakhaw to check on him. But the drug suspect wasn’t there.
Just this Aug. 23, an elder brother of Richard Prevendido was collared in a buy-bust operation of RAIDSOTG in Barangay Bakhaw.
Abelardo Prevendido Sr., 61, yielded four sachets of shabu with an estimated street value of P12,000. A companion, 23-year-old Renante Santiago, was also caught.
Both sold a sachet of shabu to an undercover police officer for P3,000, said Gallardo.
A “high-value” target was how the RAIDSOTG team leader described Abelardo.
He was listed No. 3 in the Iloilo City Police Office’s list of suspected drug personalities in the city.
Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) spokesperson, Superintendent Gilbert Gorero, confirmed that the RAIDSOTG is now being utilized to run after high-value targets in the region.
“We expect more high-value targets to fall. We have teams running after them,” said Gorero.
Last year, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency named Prevendido among its suspected big-time drug personalities in the city together with businessman Melvin Odicta Sr. Last month, Odicta was killed by unidentified gunmen./PN
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