An elusive drug lord based in the province has reportedly left the country soon after the assumption of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte. Thus, it was only his younger brother who was arrested when a joint Bohol-Cebu PNP team swooped down at their ancestral house in Poblacion, Carmen town dawn yesterday.
Arrested during the raid was Romeo “Pantat” Digal, younger brother of suspected drug lord Erico, where two “bultos” of shabu worth P118,000 was seized together with a fragmentation grenade. a 38-caliber revolver loaded with six .357 ammunition, and a rifle which turned out to be an Airsoft gun that resembled an M4 rifle.
The raid also noted the cash of P1.4 million in the house of the Digals which police believed could be proceeds of their drug operations. The suspect was still high on drugs when the operatives entered their residence past 4 o’clock dawn yesterday.
Police confirmed that Erico who has been operating on a big scale drug trafficking based in Carmen town, a hot bed of drug personalities. He was considered as one of those “untouchables” after being protected by an influential person during the heydays of his drug operations here.
Police declined to identify his alleged protector.
However, police confirmed that Erico was connected in his drug operations with the notorious drug personality, the slain Rowen “Yawa” Secretaria who was gunned down in a shootout with operatives in the island barangay of Banacon in Getafe town last May 28.
The search warrant described the cash being kept in a vault, so the police had to rummage through the house until they, indeed, found the vault behind a mirror attached to an cabinet that served as divider.
They also had to destroy the cabinet to check what’s inside the vault, since the search warrant stated that the cash was kept in a vault. When opened, operatives saw 1,000-peso bills in bundles of P10,000’s or a total of P1.4 million.
The composite police team was comprised of drug busters from the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG) led by its chief, P/Supt. Joel Quintero; the Regional Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (RAIDSOTG) led by P/Supt. Joie Pacito Yape Jr.;Carmen police led by P/Insp . Joseph Lopena; and the Provincial Intelligence Branch (PIB) led by PC/Insp. Rolando Antipolo.
The composite police team conducted the raid based on a search warrant against both Erico and Romeo issued by Acting Executive Judge Jennifer Chavez-Marcos of the Regional Trial Court Branch 2 in Tagbilaran City.
SERIES
Last night, a team from Inabanga Police Station arrested another suspected drug pusher, identified as one Robert Manliguez during a buy-bust operation in barangay U-og.
Manliguez, a 27-year-old resident of barangay U-og, Inabanga, yielded two sachets of shabu and the buy-bust money during the police operation.
Earlier in the afternoon, at around 2:45 p.m., the Municipal Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (MAIDSOTG) of Panglao Police Station and Regional Public Safety Battalion (RPSB) also arrested another suspected drug pusher during a buy-bust operation in barangay Tawala.
Panglao chief of police, PS/Insp. Joemar Pomarejos, identified the arrested person as one Jerome Guirigay, a 32-year-old boat operator residing in barangay Tawala.
Also Arrested during the drug bust was his cohort, Josigel Lanzaderas, a 35-year-old woman from Cotabato.
The police team confiscated from their possession, four small sachets of shabu, aside from the small sachet of shabu which was the subject of sale, and the 500-peso bill used as marked money.
According to Pomarejos, Guirigay had been in their watchlist of drug personalities. (with reports from Willy Maestrado and Sunnex)