5 ‘HVTs’ nabbed , shabu seized in Benguet sting
FIVE known ‘high-value individuals’ in Cordillera region were arrested by Cordillera policemen in a buy-bust operation in Tuba, Benguet last Thursday and Friday, Cordillera Police Regional Office director, Brigadier General Ronald O. Lee said.
The official said that recovered from the suspects identified as Ricardo Manuson, 43;
Richie Sison,26; John Damoco,26; Nicole Ann Cabarlo,22; and Jayson Domingo,32, were nearly P45,000 worth of shabu, an unlicensed caliber .38 revolver with five live ammunition and the marked money paid to them by undercover officers.
In a report to Philippine National Police chief, General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar, Brig. Gen. Lee said that Manuson alias ‘Bryan’ has been listed as a ‘high-value target’ by the Cordillera police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency prior to his arrest. Members of the PDEA Cordillera region under Director General Wilkins M. Villanueva ably supported the Benguet police in the conduct of the anti-narcotics operation.
He said that the suspects were arrested while conspiring to sell shabu to an undercover officer in Sitio Tagadi in Barangay Tadiangan in Tuba municipality on Thursday evening.
Initially recovered from the suspects were one heat-sealed plastic sachet containing 1.5 grams of the so-called ‘poor man’s cocaine’ valued at P10,200.
When frisked, the suspects also yielded seven more plastic sachets containing 3.5 grams of the same drug valued at P23,800, the buy-bust money, several drug paraphernalia and the unlicensed loaded firearm.
On the other hand, Cabarlo, listed as one of the region’s top 10 wanted drug personalities and Domingo, described as a ‘street-level drug dealer’ were arrested in a sting in Bgy. Ferdinand in Baguio City last Friday by members of the Cordillera Police Regional Intelligence Division and Regional Special Operations Group with the support of the Baguio City Police Station and the Regional Intelligence Unit 14.
Lee said that the two were placed under arrest after they conspired to sell a gram of shabu worth P6,800 to a poseur.
The suspects will be facing charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 and RA 10591 or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulations Act of 2013, said Brig. Gen. Lee.
