Cops nab couple supplying drugs to squatters in Valenzuela City
A couple believed to be the source of illegal drugs in a community of informal settlers in Valenzuela City were among 15 people arrested by the police in a series of antidrug operations conducted over the past weeks.
The police on Tuesday presented to the media Bonifacio Soccoro, 60; his live-in partner, Alma Molina, 50; Arnel Bordeos, 25; and Edwin Limos, 19; who were arrested in their neighborhood at Area 4 Dumpsite, Pinalagad, Barangay Malinta.
“By far, Tatay Boning’s [Bonifacio Socorro’s] group which operates in the Pinalagad area [is our biggest catch],” Senior Supt. Rhoderick Armamento, Valenzula City police chief, told reporters.
According to him, Bordeos and Molina worked with Socorro as drug pushers, selling sachets of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) to clients in the area. The 19-year-old Limos, on the other hand, served as their runner.
“We also found out that Soccoro had been convicted of illegal drug peddling in the past. But when he was released from jail, he went back to this business,” Armamento added.
Soccoro was arrested on Sunday morning after he sold a sachet of shabu to policemen posing as buyers in the area. He yielded six more sachets of the drug, a replica of a 9 mm pistol and bullets. The police caught up with the three other suspects after a brief chase.
“With their arrest, we believe that Pinalagad will be back to normal. But we are still searching for a certain Marlon and Jason, also drug pushers who worked with Tatay Boning before, but parted company with him after seeing the potential windfall they could get from selling illegal drugs,” Armamento said.
At the same time, the Valenzuela police also presented several other groups of drug pushers and users arrested in the past few weeks.
They included Analiza Camacho, 29; Ligaya Ramos, 38; Shemuel Mondejar, 18; and Carlo Angelo Lazaro, 23; who were arrested on Dec. 21 in the middle of a shabu session in an apartment on Matimyas Street in Barangay Gen. T. de Leon.
The police pointed to Camacho as the drug dealer in the group. Lazaro, on the other hand, was identified as a former Sangguniang Kabataan councilor in Barangay Ugong whose term ended last year.
Another “notorious” illegal drug peddler who was picked up by authorities was 29-year-old Jonie Badong of Bagbaguin, Caloocan City. “His supposed turf was in Barangay Lawang Bato where he was arrested, [aside from] Canumay East and Punturin,” Armamento said.
Meanwhile, Ranel Delema, a 33-year-old resident of Trinidad Compound, Canumay East; Jerico Ocmer, 28, of BF Alarcon Compound, Malabo, Barangay Maysan; and Michelle Ramirez, 41, of Lower Tibagan, Sitio Cabatuan in Barangay Gen. T. de Leon; all in Valenzula City, were arrested in separate drug busts last month.
On the other hand, Eduardo Enriquez, 41; Jimmy Raynera, 42; and Trece Domingo, 33; all from San Andres, Barangay Malanday, were rounded up by authorities in the area on Jan. 2.
Charges of violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 in relation to the sale, trade, distribution, possession and use of dangerous drugs have been filed against the 15 in court.
For his part, Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian added that the local government had been receiving reports of these drug groups in the past months.
“We’ve been monitoring them since November and the police arrested them after a surveillance period of anywhere between 14 to 45 days. But we … made sure that all documents were in place and all procedures were followed before we apprehended them,” he said.
