Man, 2 pals acquitted of drug charges

A MAN, whom police tagged as a drug pusher, and two of his companions were acquitted yesterday of drug charges after the police mishandled the physical evidence by failing to make an inventory or taking photos.

Regional Trial Court Judge Samuel Malazarte of Branch 15 cleared Roberto Hegremosa, Bimbo Yap and Moses Reyes of the charge of violation of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

In his ruling, the judge said police failed to comply with section 21 of RA 9165, which requires apprehending teams to conduct a physical inventory of the seized drugs before the presence of the lawyers of the accused, the media, an elected public official and a representative of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The judge said there was no proper handling of evidence by law enforcers who failed to conduct an inventory of the 53.84 grams of shabu allegedly confiscated from the accused.

Law enforcers also didn’t take photographs of the drugs.

Special Investigator Arnel Pura of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) told Cebu Daily News that Hegremosa was the target of the botched drug operation last December 2002.

Pura was referring to the NBI operation where agents mistakenly chased and fired at a Plantation Bay Resort van carrying five employees in barangay Banilad, Cebu City, thinking it was Hegremosa they were chasing.

The five employees were wounded in the attack.

On June 22, 2003, Cebu City policemen arrested Hegremosa, Yap and Reyes during a buy-bust operation.Hegremosa was charged with selling and using shabu.

Yap and Reyes, on the other hand, were accused of sniffing shabu.  Reporter ADOR VINCENT S. MAYOL