SUSPECTS USE ‘RELAY TACTIC’: Four drug gang members fall in Sara drug stings

By: Jennifer P. Rendon

FOUR suspected drug peddlers who belong to a syndicate were collared in separate police anti-drug operations afternoon of July 29, 2019 in Sara, Iloilo.

The first operation led to the arrests of Jimmy Pascual, 27, of Barangay Dugman, San Dionisio, and Jesus Denom, 34, of Barangay Ilawod, Sara.

Members of the Iloilo Police Provincial Office-Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (IPPO-PDEU) and Sara Police Station nabbed the suspects at Barangay Anoring.

The two yielded six sachets of suspected shabu worth P24,000, the P400 marked money, P4,000 boodle or fake money used in the sting, a mobile phone, and a motorcycle.

The second operation caught Jorge Balugal, 27, of Anoring village, and Elvin John Castor, 26, of Barangay Ilawod, Sara.

Seized from the two suspects were nine sachets of suspected shabu worth P44,000, P200 marked money, P20,000 boodle money, two mobile phones, and two motorcycles.

 

TACTIC

Police Major Jonathan Pinuela, IPPO-PDEU chief, said the four are suspected shabu pushers in the fifth district of Iloilo.

While Pascual and Balugal are moving within the same district, they have specific distribution areas.

If one of them runs out of illegal drugs, they could supply the other.

“They have the same supplier,” Pinuela said but he refused to reveal the supplier’s profile.

Pascual and Balugal also avoided selling drugs to “outsiders.”

“That’s why we have to use an asset to do the transaction,” Pinuela said.

During the transaction, another person will take the money of the buyer while another will get the supply from the pusher. A third pusher will hand the drugs to the buyer.

That’s why it took anti-drugs operators several hours – from morning till afternoon – to finally collar the suspects.

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