Three kins, companion fall in drug sting

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

BACOLOD CITY – Four persons, including two brothers and their niece, were arrested in a buy-bust operation that yielded 14 grams of suspected shabu worth P95,200 at Antonio Luna Interior, Barangay Mambulac, Silay City, Negros Occidental yesterday.

Police identified the subject as Kimberly Hilado, 26, while her two uncles are Borce brothers – Rene, 40, and Rey, 38, and their other companion was Nick Lira, 35, all residents of the said village.

Hilado allegedly sold a shabu to a police agent for P3,000 during a transaction around 8:53 a.m., based on a police report.

Hilado, Lira, and Rene are street level individuals, while Rey is a newly-identified individual, according to the police.

Meanwhile, in Moises Padilla town, a 34-year-old laborer was also apprehended after police operatives raided his house through a search warrant in Barangay Crossing Magallon yesterday.

The search warrant for illegal possession of firearms was issued by Executive Judge Cyclamen Jison Fernandez of the Regional Trial Court in La Carlota City, according to Police Major Jovito Bose, Moises Padilla town police chief.

Police seized during the raid a .38 caliber revolver with ammunition, an improvised homemade 12-gauge shotgun with one live ammunition, five live ammunition, a fired cartridge case of .45-caliber ammunition, and an MK2 fragment grenade with tape.

Also confiscated from him were three sachets of suspected shabu worth P13,600, and drug paraphernalia.

Bose said the operation stemmed from various complaints against the suspect for threats. “Damo complaints sang pagpamahog kag pagpanaya against him,” he added.

Bose said the suspect alleged that the recovered firearms were only used as protection since he was working as a watchman in a sugarcane field.

However, Bose said that the suspect was not authorized to possess any firearm, ammunition, or explosive.

Prior to this operation, he said that the suspect was subjected to a buy-bust operation last year, but he managed to escape. This time, police focused on the complaints against him on loose firearms.

Bose said that the recovery of illegal drugs was only incidental during the raid. He said they would have to check first if the suspect allegedly returned to engaging in the illegal drug trade or if he was just into drug use.

He said the recovered firearms were subjected to ballistic examination.

Charges for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, illegal possession of explosives, and illegal possession of dangerous drugs will be filed against the suspect.