Woman, cohort nabbed with 600K worth of shabu

By Jennifer P. Rendon

 

A woman whose alleged lover is incarcerated for a drug offense was arrested in a police anti-narcotics operation early evening of October 19 at Molo, Iloilo City.

Police identified the suspect as Eliza May Malfarta, 25, a resident of Barangay San Juan, Molo.

Members of the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU) Team 3 and the Iloilo City Police Station 4 arrested Malfarta and her alleged cohort, Distin Jay Garvilles, in a buy-bust operation 7:05 p.m. Monday at Zone 3, Barangay Boulevard, Molo.

Police Lieutenant Glen Soliman, RPDEU Team 3 chief, said Malfarta was the subject of the operation.

Malfarta, whose live-in partner Bernie Abantao has been incarcerated at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, had been under police monitoring for about a month already.

Garvilles is an alleged street level pusher.

Soliman said the two suspects conspired in selling a sachet of suspected shabu worth P61,000 to a police undercover agent.

The recovered shabu was valued at P600,000.

Recovered from their possession were two sachets of suspected shabu placed in a brown envelope and the P61,000 marked money.

After their arrest, police seized a transparent plastic bag containing suspected shabu, a red sling bag, a wallet, and two mobile phones from Garvilles’ possession.

Taken from Malfarta were the marked money and two mobile phones.

 

LINK TO ABANTAO GROUP

Soliman believed that Malfarta was being used by the Abantao Gang in the latter’s drug trade.

The group is led by Bernie’s brother, Jovern who is also known as Jovan.

Jovern, Bernie, and another brother are all incarcerated at the New Bilibid Prison

Jovern was also the same inmate who allegedly mobilized drug pushers who were caught with P7.4 million of illegal drugs in an operation in the city and province of Iloilo on Feb. 3, 2020.

The group allegedly arranged the transaction with the suppliers.

The items were shipped through roll on, roll off (Ro-Ro) cargoes and were dropped at Mohon Transport Terminal in Arevalo, Iloilo City.

The local PNP has earlier said that they are validating the clout of the Abantao group, to which the three suspects are affiliated.

The PNP said they could be either used to be part of the Odicta or Prevendido drug groups, the two main drugs groups in Iloilo before.

Jovern Abantao was arrested in 2016 for an illegal drugs offense.

For a while, his operation was cut short.

Jovern tested positive in a surprise drug test at BJMP-District Jail in Barangay Nanga, Pototan, Iloilo almost three years ago.

Meanwhile, another Abantao relative was also arrested in a buy bust operation July 30, 2019 at Arevalo, Iloilo City.

Warren Abantao, 25, of Zone 12, Calaparan, Arevalo, was arrested after selling a sachet of suspected shabu for P5,500.

Operatives of the PNP Regional Drug Enforcement Unit also recovered from him 22 sachets of suspected shabu.

RDEU classified Warren, who was an Oplan Tokhang surrenderer, as a high value target (HVT) level 1 drug personality.