Cabbie, two passengers fall in drug sting

By Jennifer P. Rendon

A taxi driver and his two passengers were arrested in a police narcotics operation in Pavia, Iloilo, afternoon of July 28, 2020.

Police identified the suspects as Carlo Estorninos, 39, of Aquino Nobleza Street, Janiuay, Iloilo; Jay Alejandro, 46, of Barangay Boulevard, Molo, Iloilo City; and Benjamin Copeta, 57, of Barangay Balaticon, Calinog, Iloilo.

Members of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office-Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (IPPO-PDEU), Pavia Police Station, and the 602nd Regional Mobile Force Battalion 6 (RFMB-6) collared Estorninos.

Estorninos, the target of the buy bust operation, used to work as a “cristo” in cockpits while Alejandro is a taxi driver of Melvin Taxi.

“Even before we were placed on community quarantine, we already monitored his involvement in illegal drugs,” Police Major Gervinson Moyo, IPPO-PDEU chief, said.

Estorninos allegedly pointed to a person in Iloilo City as his supplier. He would contact Alejandro to drive for him during his transactions.

The transaction with the police happened outside a mall at Barangay Ungka II, Pavia.

The suspects allegedly sold a big plastic sachet and 15 small plastic sachets of suspected shabu worth P26,800 to a police undercover agent.

Recovered from the suspects were the buy bust items, a Samsung mobile phone, an improvised footer, a red pouch, and three identification cards.

Moyo said they also seized eight small sachets of suspected shabu, a mobile phone, an ash tray, and several personal belongings inside Alejandro’s cab.

The taxi was also sequestered.

Moyo estimated the confiscated shabu’s street price at P60,000.

The suspects are now detained at Pavia Police Station and will be charged for violation of Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002).