TWO members of separate drug groups in Bacolod City yielded an estimated P300,000 worth of illegal drugs during a buy-bust in a residential village at Barangay Mandalagan, Bacolod City Friday night.
Arrested were target subject Elias Cabugatan, an alleged right-hand of a drug group leader, and his friend Edwin Vivero, former traffic enforcer, and a member of another drug group in the city.
Inspector Adrian James Albaytar, assistant team leader of City Drug Enforcement Unit (CDEU), said the two suspects engaged in a transaction with a police agent around 6:30 p.m.
Cabugatan sold the shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) while Vivero received the P1,000 marked money.
When police introduced themselves, Cabugatan tried to resist arrest by driving away in his Ford Everest vehicle, but he was eventually cornered.
Police operatives further recovered from Cabugatan six sachets of suspected shabu while Vivero yielded one more sachet of shabu.
Albaytar said the suspects would usually secure their illegal drug supply from Mindanao, but recently had been sourcing also from Cebu and Manila.
He added that they have monitored Cabugatan’s activities in the past six months after learning his affiliation with a drug group under the watchlist of Bacolod City Police Office.
Albaytar refused to name both drug groups while they are continuously tracking them.
He also said that they conducted the operation after they got information from suspects previously arrested that also had connections with the two and their groups.
Both suspects are detained at Police Station 3 for the filing of charges for violation of Section 5 (sale of dangerous drugs) and Section 11 (possession of dangerous drugs) of Republic Act 9165 or Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
