Cops smash Zambales drug den, arrest 7
A NOTORIOUS drug den in Zambales was smashed by the local police following an anti-narcotics operation on Thursday that also resulted in the arrest of seven suspects in Subic municipality.
Zambales Police Provincial Office Director Col. Romano Cardiño said arrested during the operation in Sitio Matang-eb, Bgy. Cawag, Subic around 3:20 a.m. on Thursday were Manuel Catapang alias “Batang,” 36; Ronaldo Soriano, 24; Joselito Ong, 48; Micahel Janawid, 37; Aisa Balani, 24; Nul-amda Jali, 33; and Snira Jalil, 53.
“We have placed that area in Subic under close monitoring following persistent reports that it is being used as a drug dive, where shabu can be bought and even used,” the official said.
Cardiño told Police Regional Office 3 Director Brig. Gen. Valeriano de Leon that during the operation, an undercover officer managed to buy shabu from Catapang, a watch-listed drug personality.
Seized from the suspect were one heat-sealed plastic sachet containing the “poor man’s cocaine” and the marked P500 bill paid to him by the poseur.
The official said that the Subic policemen led by Maj. San Juan Felmar Aquino and Lieutenants Noel Villaluan and Randy Pascasio then raided the suspect’s house-cum-drug dive and arrested the five other suspects, who were caught in the act of sniffing shabu.
Confiscated during the anti-narcotics operation were a total of nine plastic sachets containing shabu, the marked bill and several drug paraphernalia, including a disposable lighter with burner, unused aluminum foil strips, three aluminum foil strips with traces of shabu, and empty plastic sachets being used to repack the illegal drug.
Cardiño said that the confiscated drugs weighed 13.9 grams and valued at P90,350.
Now locked up at the Subic police jail, all suspects are facing charges for violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
