‘Ex-crime group member’ falls in P1.7-M drug bust

By Jennifer P. Rendon

A member of an inactive notorious criminal group was arrested in a police anti-illegal drug operation late morning of July 10 in Calinog, Iloilo.

Joemarie Casabuena Fajardo, 45, of Barangay Tabucan, Calinog, was apprehended in a buy-bust operation in Carvasana village.

Members of Calinog Municipal Police Station, along with the 1st and 2nd Iloilo Provincial Mobile Group, Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU) 6, Police Regional Office (PRO) 6 Special Operations Unit (SOU), and PNP Maritime Group SOU, arrested the suspect after he sold a sachet of suspected shabu for P28,000.

Upon his arrest, police seized seven more sachets of suspected shabu, a caliber .45 pistol with three rounds of ammunition, a sling bag, a wallet containing identification cards, and an improvised tooter.

Major Myles Dieron, Calinog police chief, reported that the seized drugs weighed around 250 grams with a standard drug price of P1,700,000.

Dieron stated that Fajardo was a member of the Chiva-Fajardo Group, known in Iloilo province for their robbery and gun-for-hire activities. However, the group has been inactive for years following the deaths and arrests of several members.

Two of Fajardo’s brothers are currently in jail.

The suspect works as a delivery attendant at a water refilling station.

“We believe he’s using it as a front for his illegal drug transactions,” Dieron said.

Local police have been monitoring Fajardo’s illegal drug activities since last year, but the suspect relocated to other areas when police were closing in on him. He has also been subjected to Oplan Tokhang.

It is believed that Fajardo’s drug supply was sourced through transactions facilitated by his detained brothers.

With his arrest, it won’t be long before Fajardo joins his brothers behind bars.

He is set to face charges for violating Republic Act 9165 (Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002) and Republic Act 10591 (Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act).