13 ‘pushers’ fall in Quezon drug busts

LUCENA CITY – Police arrested 13 suspected drug pushers in a series of raids and buy-bust operations in different parts of Quezon province from Sunday to Monday.

Suspect Michael Belila, 38, was collared after he sold “shabu” (crystal meth) to an undercover police officer in a buy-bust in Barangay (village) Pahinga Norte in Candelaria town around 3:20 a.m. Monday, Quezon police director Sr. Supt. Osmundo de Guzman said in a report.

The suspect, listed as number four in the local police drug watch list, yielded a digital weighing scale and 3.7 grams of shabu with estimated street value of P6,845, according to police.

Earlier, authorities also arrested Dexter Guino, 38, in another buy-bust in Barangay Malabanban Norte also in Candelaria around 11:55 p.m. Sunday. Police seized 2.01 grams of shabu worth P3,178 in the street market from the suspect.

In Tiaong, police armed with search warrant arrested Eugene Isipan, 40, and his associate Gregorio Samarita, 48, in an alleged drug den in Barangay San Juan around 2:30 a.m. Monday. The duo yielded several plastic sachets of shabu weighing a total of 2.15 grams with a street value of P23,700.

Police also arrested Russel Robles in a raid in his house located in Barangay Poblacion 2 also in Tiaong around 7 p.m. Sunday. Authorities seized 10 sachets of shabu weighing 3.2 grams worth P21,760 from the suspect.

In other buy-bust operations Sunday, police arrested suspected drug peddlers Randy Binabaye and Noel Alcantara in Sariaya; Vicente Oabel in Tayabas City; and Erwin Hoyohoy in Padre Burgos. The suspects each yielded less than one gram of shabu, police said.

Police, armed with search warrants, also conducted a raid in Atimonan on Sunday and collared John Perry Altamira, a former barangay kagawad, and confiscated from him five sachets of shabu weighing less than one gram.

Police in Mauban town also nabbed Rafael Gregor Peñamante, Junel Tee, and Mansueto Bactasolo, all suspected drug pushers, in separate raids. Each of the three suspects yielded less than one gram of shabu during the Sunday raid.  /kga