THE right hand man of the fallen top drug lord Melvin Odicta Sr. eluded arrest after policemen raided his house at Barangay Monica Blumenttrit, Iloilo City early Sunday morning, October 2.
Raiding team head Ramil Gallardo, chief of the regional anti-illegal drug task group (RAIDTG) said Jesus “Jingjing” Espinosa was in his four-storey house but managed to escape in one of the seven exits after the police team knocked on door around 6 a.m.
Espinosa was tagged as number 3 in the police list of high value target and was close to number 1 drug lord Odicta who was his wedding godfather.
Odicta was slain together with his wife Meriam Odicta last August 29 at the Caticlan jetty port in Malay, Aklan after disembarking a roro vessel from Metro Manila in going back to Iloilo City.
Armed with two search warrants for illegal drugs and guns issued by Judge Vicente Go of RTC Branch 68, the raiding team recovered seven sachets of shabu, one .45 cal pistol, magazines with 30 rounds of ammunitions, three black holsters, .9mm pistol with expired PTC, magazine with 22 ammunitions and P25,955 cash.
Espinosa is a baranggay kagawad while his wife Keith Espinosa, alias “Dabing,” is the village chief of Monica Blumenttrit. He turned himself to ICPO Station 1 last July 18 during the implementation of Project Tokhang (knock and plead) by denying he is a drug pusher or user.
Espinosa was also identified as a companion of Odicta and several others trying to break into DYOK Aksyon Radyo Iloilo on November 19, 2015.
A Senate inquiry conducted on December 10, 2015 headed by Senator Grace Poe, Espinosa also denied being a drug trafficker.
