Cohort of suspected drug lord in Cebu, 2 nabbed in buy-bust

Franz Sabalones, tagged by the Philippine National Police as one of Central Visayas’ top drug lords, surrenders to PNP Director General Ronald Dela Rosa in this Sept. 27, 2016 file photo. Sabalones has linked 18 policemen to the illegal drug trade. A shabu dealer, Rosendo Dominguez, who was arrested in Talisay City, Oct. 30, 2016, identified Sabalones as his former supplier of shabu (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ NIÑO JESUS ORBETA)

CEBU CITY — A cohort of suspected drug lord Franz Sabalones and two others were arrested in a drug bust in Talisay City, southern Cebu on Sunday night, police said.

Rosendo Dominguez, Titos Joseph Bacho and Eugenio Añora did not resist arrest when operatives of the Regional Special Operations Group collared them inside Dominguez’s house in Barangay Cansojong.

Recovered from their possession were 0.07 grams of shabu worth P82,000, a .45-pistol and a KG submachine gun.

In an interview, Dominguez admitted he used to get his supply of shabu from Sabalones, a Cebu-based drug lord who recently surrendered to authorities.

He, however, claimed that he had quit his illegal drugs trade out of fear that he might be killed.

“I fear for my life because drug-related killings are so rampant,” he said.  SFM/rga