Duo nabbed with P476K worth of shabu

By Jennifer P. Rendon

Two persons were arrested in a police anti-illegal drug operation late morning of Nov 13, 2021 in Mandurriao, Iloilo City.

Police identified the suspects as Aldrin Montellibano alias “Alog,” 28, of R. Mapa Street, Barangay Tabucan Mandurriao, Iloilo City and John Paul Fernandez, 26, a resident of Barangay Kasing-Kasing, Molo district.

Montelibano, an alleged high-value individual (HVI) drug personality, and Fernandez, an alleged street level pusher, were collared after conniving to sell a sachet of suspected shabu worth P10,000 to a police poseur buyer at Tabucan village.

Members of the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit 6 (RPDEU-6), together with operatives from Iloilo City Police Station 5, the Regional Highway Patrol Unit 6 (RHPU-6) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-6’s Anti-Illegal Drugs Team, arrested the duo following a three-month surveillance on Montelibano.

Recovered from their possession was a pouch containing nine sachets of suspected shabu, another pouch containing a plastic sachet of shabu, the buy bust money, a digital weighing scale, an improvised totter, a used aluminum foil with drug residue, two lighters, two mobile phones, and a small paper containing a sachet of suspected shabu.

Lieutenant Colonel Mark Anthony Darroca, RPDEU-6 chief, said the seized drugs weighed around 70 grams and has an estimated value of P476,000.

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