‘ABANTAO DRUG GROUP’: Alleged shabu peddler falls in Iloilo City drug sting

By Jennifer P. Rendon

 

A suspected drug pusher from Banate, Iloilo province was arrested in a shabu sting in Mandurriao, Iloilo City Friday afternoon.

Mark Kristina Arroyo, 32, a resident of Barangay Zona Sur, Banate, was collared in a buy-bust operation at 3:35 p.m. yesterday at Barangay Bolilao, Mandurriao.

Arroyo is believed to be a member of an “up and coming” drug syndicate that took the mantle of previous narco-groups that operated in the city and province of Iloilo.

Members of the Iloilo City Police Office-City Drug Enforcement Unit (ICPO-CDEU) nabbed Arroyo after she handed over a sachet of suspected shabu for P2,500 to an undercover cop.

Lieutenant Feliciano Sedotes, ICPO-CDEU team leader, said they recovered 13 more sachets of suspected shabu after the arrest.

The seized drugs were valued at P150,000.

Sedotes said Arroyo is a newly identified drug personality operating in both Banate and in Iloilo City.

Reports claimed that the suspect is linked to the Abantao Drug Group, which has been taking over the narcotics trade in the city and province of Iloilo.

Arroyo is now in the lock-up cell of Iloilo City Police Station 5 pending the filing of charges against him for violation of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).

 

ABANTAO GROUP

Two alleged members of the Abantao drug group, whose leader is now incarcerated, were arrested in a police anti-narcotics operation on Nov 18 in Guimbal, Iloilo.

Police identified the suspects as Raymond Terosa, 26, of Taneza St., Barangay 1, Tigbauan, Iloilo; and Ruby Dayatao, 27, of Balantad Street, Guimbal who yielded P100,000 worth of suspected shabu.

On Oct 19, a woman whose alleged lover is incarcerated over a drug offense was arrested in an anti-illegal drugs operation in Molo, Iloilo City.

Members of the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU) Team 3 and the Iloilo City Police Station 4 nabbed Eliza May Malfarta, 25, a resident of Barangay San Juan, Molo; and her alleged cohort Distin Jay Garvilles, at Zone 3, Barangay Boulevard, Molo.

Suspected shabu worth P600,000 was seized from their possession.

Malfarta’s live-in partner is Bernie Abantao who is incarcerated at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

The RPDEU-6 believed that Malfarta was being used by the Abantao Gang in the latter’s drug trade.

The group is led by Bernie’s brother Jovern who is also known as Jovan.

Jovern, Bernie, and another brother are all detained at the New Bilibid Prison

Jovern was also the same inmate who allegedly mobilized drug pushers who were caught with P7.4 million of illegal drugs in an operation in the city and province of Iloilo on Feb. 3, 2020.

The items were shipped via roll on-roll off (Ro-Ro) cargoes.

The PNP said the Abantao could be part of the Odicta or Prevendido groups, the two alleged drug groups that operated in Iloilo until the deaths of their leaders.

Abantao was arrested in 2016 for an illegal drug offense.

For a while, his operation was cut short.

But Jovern failed a surprise drug test at BJMP-District Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo almost three years ago.