Kagawad yields drug paraphernalia in checkpoint

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD City – Police are preparing the filing of charges for illegal possession of drug paraphernalia against a village councilman of Ilog, Negros Occidental, following his arrest at a checkpoint at Sitio Mohon, Barangay 1, Kabankalan City last Thursday.

Arrested was Cyrell Castañares, 40, of Barangay Dancalan, Ilog town.

Police Lieutenant Dennis Melgarejo, deputy police chief of Kabankalan City Police Station, said they saw Castañares’s ridden motorcycle stopped from afar while they were conducting a checkpoint.

Melgarejo said that Castañares and his motorcycle-driver companion attempted to execute a U-turn but they failed when their motorcycle malfunctioned.

Melgarejo said they immediately rushed to them and allegedly caught Castañares throwing something on the ground when he alighted from the motorcycle. “Daw ga panic na siya sang nagpalapit kami, uneasy and acting suspicious,” he added.

When police checked the items on the ground, they recovered an improvised glass tooter and improvised plastic straw scoop with traces of suspected shabu.

Also confiscated from him were an improvised aluminum canister and a lighter.

Melgarejo said that Castañares and his companion alleged that they were on their way to buy medicine when they decided to return after they failed to buy one.

Castañares can be considered a newly-identified individual. He has no record of any illegal activity in the barangay or police station in Ilog town, Melgarejo added.

Melgarejo said that Castañares’s companion was not placed under police custody because no contraband was recovered from him. However, his motorcycle was held in custody and was given a citation ticket.