Ex-cop nabbed in Camarines Sur drug bust

 

LEGAZPI CITY — A former police officer was arrested in a drug buy-bust operation in Bato, Camarines Sur on Friday.

Police Colonel Julius Caesar Domingo, Camarines Sur police chief, said in a report that Richelle Mata, 41, was arrested in Barangay (village) San Rafael at around 1:50 p.m. after she sold five grams of shabu (crystal meth) worth P15,000 to an undercover agent.

During the body search, authorities also recovered a coin purse containing sachets of shabu.

Domingo said they recovered a total of eight grams of shabu worth around P88,000 from the suspect who was included in the illegal drugs watch list.

Lieutenant Maria Alda Baldonado, deputy chief of the Bato police, said in a phone interview Saturday that Mata was dismissed from the service in 2021.

The PNP filed an administrative case against the suspect in 2019 after failing a random drug test.

Mata was recruited as a police officer in 2008 and previously assigned in Magarao.

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