AKLAN – Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) seized more than P550,000 worth of shabu during a recent buy-bust operation here.
The drug haul against three high-value suspects took place in Sitio Banlok, Barangay Sta. Cruz-Bigaa, Lezo town, at around 4:25 a.m. on Friday, March 15.
Carl Martin Tolentino, 27, a resident of Boracay Island’s Barangay Manocmanoc, Malay handed to a poseur-buyer a heat-sealed transparent plastic sachet containing suspected shabu weighing more or less five grams in exchange for P30,000 in buy-bust money.
The suspect was arrested together with his 33-year-old brother Carl and live-in partner Lorelyn Tolentino, 33, inside the alleged drug den.
The anti-narcotics team of PDEA-Aklan, PDEA-Capiz, and PDEA-6 Airport Interdiction, in coordination with the Lezo municipal police station, seized 17 sachets of suspected shabu weighing more or less 55 grams, a mobile phone, aluminum strips, and an improvised water pipe from the suspects.
Also recovered inside the alleged drug den were a pair of scissors, a roll of aluminum foil, a black pouch, disposable lighters, a coin purse, transparent plastic sachets with traces of suspected shabu, cash of various denominations, and an improvised tooter.
Investigation Agent V Nicolas Gomez of PDEA-Aklan said the suspects were reportedly the prime sources of illegal drugs for arrested street-level personalities in the province of Aklan.
“Ginagamit din ang kanilang bahay sa pot session; naging drug den itong lugar dahil sa maraming pumupuntang parokyano dito,” Gomez said.
Authorities conducted three months of monitoring of the illegal drug activities of the suspects before the buy-bust.
The suspects are facing charges for multiple violations of Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002./PN
