PDEA agent, companion nabbed for drugs, guns in Laguna

SAN PEDRO CITY, Laguna, Philippines — An agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) was arrested in a police anti-illegal drug operation in this city on Saturday afternoon.

Col. Eleazar Matta, chief of the Laguna Police Provincial Office, said the suspect Richard Gaufo, 39, a resident of San Fernando City, Pampanga, was formerly assigned here in the Calabarzon Region before being transferred to the Cordillera Administrative Region.

According to Matta, it was Gaufo’s companion, identified as Joseph Martin Patrick Borjal, 39, who was the target of the police operation around 2:15 p.m. in Barangay Pacita 1.

In 2018, Borjal was arrested in Santa Rosa City, Laguna for illegal possession of firearms and illegal drugs.

“[Gaufo] happened to be there during the search. That’s why he too was arrested,” Matta said in a text message to the Inquirer.

Members of the Laguna intelligence police were armed with a warrant issued by judge Cynthia Marino-Ricablanca of the Santa Cruz Regional Trial Court Branch 27 to search Borjal’s place.

Police found three guns, bullets, and a grenade in the suspect’s house. They also found 10 sachets of suspected crystal meth, or shabu, and a fake PDEA identification card with Borjal’s name.

The arrest came in the midst of reports of illegal drugs being “recycled” by unscrupulous police officers, a claim made last week by the PDEA chief but which was refuted by the Philippine National Police.

/atm