BY RHENJIE MARIE CALANTAS
ILOILO City – Five sachets of suspected shabu valued at around P340,000 were seized in a drug buy-bust operation in Barangay Benedicto, Jaro district around 1:46 a.m. yesterday.
Joint elements of the Iloilo City Police Office’s City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU) and Station Drug Enforcement Team 3 of the Jaro police station also arrested four drug suspects while one evaded arrest.
They were Amy Bayoneta, 41, main subject, and her children Ro-Ann Bayoneta, 19, and a 15-year-old boy, all residents of Barangay Benedicto, and Ro-ann’s live-in partner, Miguel Esparagoza, 19, of La Carlota City, Negros Occidental.
Another main subject of the operation, suspect Rommel Melliza, 51, also a resident of the aforementioned village, managed to escape.
“Ang aton monitoring kay Amy mga almost one month kay dati nadakpan man ni naton ang iya nga bana kag iban niya nga kaupod diri man sa area. Target gid ini siya naton together with Romel Melliza but it so happened nga nakapalagyo siya,” said Police Captain Roque Gimeno III, CDEU team leader, in an interview with Radyo Bandera Iloilo.
Also recovered were P8,000 in buy-bust money, P400 believed to be proceeds of illegal drugs, digital weighing scale, cellular phone, and drug paraphernalia.
The suspects were detained at the Jaro police station, facing charges for violation of Republic Act 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002./PN
