By J. Jala | 07:30 AM July 03, 2021
CEBU CITY- A joint team from the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7 (Central Visayas) confiscated a kilogram of illegal drugs from a Boholano drug personality during an anti-drug sting on Vestil Street, Barangay Mambaling here Thursday night.
PDEA-7 Director Levi Ortiz said the joint operation by the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit 7 and his team collared one Arthur Albelda Jabalde, 32, a native of Barangay Tubuwan, Loon, Bohol who temporarily resides in Sitio Silingan Dos, Barangay Tejero, Cebu City.
The police said Jabalde is on the top 10 list of regional-level high-value personalities involved in the illegal drug trade in the region.
Police Major Glenn Hife, chief of the Regional Police Drug Enforcement Unit (RPDEU-7), said that Jabalde was included in the top 10 high-value target list in terms of illegal drug trading.
The suspect’s areas of distribution include the entire Cebu City with over a hundred grams of ‘shabu’ being disposed of per week.
During the operation, police confiscated 1,046 grams of ‘shabu’ with an estimated market value of P7,112,800.
During their interrogation with the suspect, Hife said that Jabalde admitted that his source of illegal drugs was somebody from inside the Mandaue City Jail.
The suspect reportedly took a hiatus then went back to drug peddling in the later part of the pandemic. He has also been under surveillance for at least two months before the drug bust was conducted.
Jabalde will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9165, the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
