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BY RUBY P SILUBRICO
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Thursday, February 2, 2017
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ILOILO City – Western Visayas’ No. 2 suspected drug personality was arrested in Salvador Estate, Parañaque City, Metro Manila.
Ednie Jimena, nephew of suspected drug lord Richard Prevendido, was caught in front of the apartment he was renting on Tuesday around 7:20 p.m.
According to the operatives of the Police Regional Office 6’s (PRO-6) Regional Special Operations Group and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) Region 6, Jimena was a high-value target.
Jimena was charged with violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002. His house in Barangay Bakhaw, Mandurriao district was raided in October last year together with those of his uncle Prevendido – the region’s No. 1 drug suspect – and cousin Bonie Gregori.
The three were not in their respective houses but PDEA operatives recovered shabu with a combined worth of P1.3 million.
Jimena had been hiding in Parañaque since late last year, according to Senior Inspector Jigger Gimeno of the Regional Special Operations Group.
They learned about his presence there from an informant, he added.
“He did not resist when we arrested him,” said Gimeno.
The arrest warrant was issued by Judge Juana Judita Panigbatan Nafarete of the Regional Trial Court.
Jimena was detained at PDEA’s national headquarters. He will be transferred to Iloilo City next week, said Gimeno.
PDEA and the police have been hunting Jimena down since last year’s raid of his house.
Less than two months after the raid, the mother of Jimena’s live-in partner surrendered to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group high-powered firearms that she claimed were the owned by the drug suspect.
According to Barangay Captain Estelita Ordinal of Dungon B, Jaro district, she did not want to be dragged in whatever case of her daughter’s live-in partner.
Jimena were keeping the guns in her house, said Ordinal.
Meanwhile, the police and PDEA remain clueless on the whereabouts of Jimena’s uncle Prevendido. But they are receiving lots of tips from informants interested to bag the reward money of a million pesos for the successful capture of the suspected drug lord.
It’s unclear as of this writing if Jimena would be cooperating with the police and PDEA for his uncle’s arrest.
Law enforcers hunting Prevendido aim to capture him alive, according to Superintendent Harold Tuzon, director of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO).
He has to answer the charges filed against him in court,” said Tuzon.
The city and provincial governments of Iloilo each offered a cash reward of P500 thousand – for a total of P1 million – to whoever could give information leading to Prevendido’s arrest.
In a bid to further hasten the suspect’s arrest, the police circulated photos of Prevendido.
According to Senior Superintendent Remus Zacharias Canieso, city police director, he also sought the help of the media, both print and broadcast, through their websites and social media accounts like Facebook.
The identities of the informants will be treated with strict confidentiality, said Canieso.
He also reiterated that the monetary reward would only be released to the civilian informant./PN
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