COMBINED agents of the Philippine National Police-Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) and the Police Regional Office 5 (PRO5) on Friday afternoon arrested a “dismissed” policewoman wanted for illegal drug trafficking activities in the Bicol region during a buy-bust operation in Camarines Sur, PNP-IMEG Director Brigadier General Warren F. de Leon said.

The official said the arrested suspect was a former member of the Camarines Sur Police Provincial Office (PPO) who went on AWOL (absent without official leave) status after she tested positive for substance abuse during a random drug test in 2019.

In a report to PNP Chief Gen. Rodolfo S. Azurin Jr., the official said that after she tested positive for methamphetamine or shabu, the policewoman’s performance became “erratic’ until she went on AWOL, which triggered her dismissal from the PNP service.

“We have received information that after being fired from the police force, the suspect turned to illegal drug trafficking in Naga City and Bato, Camarines Sur, and its nearby municipalities,” said the official.

She was later included in the watch list of the Camarines Sur PPO and the PRO5.

De Leon said that around 1:50 p.m. Friday, members of the PRO5 Regional Drug Enforcement Unit, the Camarines Sur PPO, and the Bato Municipal Police Station under Brig. Gen. Rudolph B. Dimas and the IMEG Luzon Field Unit 5, headed by Major Jorden Gutay, conducted the entrapment operation.

The suspect was arrested after she handed the drugs to the poseur buyer and received the buy-bust money. She was immediately taken to the local police station for booking and filing non-bailable charges for selling and possessing prohibited drugs under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

AUTHOR PROFILE

Alfred P. Dalizon