LUCENA CITY—Nine anti-illegal drugs operatives of the Imus City police station in Cavite province were relieved from their posts on Monday after video footage of an alleged illegal operation they conducted at the house of a retired teacher went viral on social media.
Police Col. Christopher Olazo, Cavite police director, approved the relief of the nine policemen, upon the recommendation of Imus City, Cavite police chief Lt. Col. Michael Batoctoy, and temporarily recalled their service firearms pending investigation and filing of appropriate charges against them.
Relieved were Maj. Alexes Tuazon, the head of the city’s Station Drug Enforcement Unit, and his eight operatives, who were seen in the video taken by a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera forcibly entering a house at 8:10 p.m. on Aug. 2 in Barangay Alapan 1-A.
Tuazon’s team claimed to have recovered P136,000 worth of “shabu” (crystal meth) from Rebecca Caoile, 67, and an unidentified cohort, who were both arrested.
But the CCTV footage that was posted on social media showed eight men wearing only shorts and T-shirts forcing their way into the house and taking out brand-new motorcycle wheels and various other items placed inside a bag, which Caoile claimed were stolen.
The video, which had no footage of the arrest of the supposed suspects, was furnished by Juan Caoile, the retired teacher’s son, to a local online news outlet that posted it on social media.
As of Tuesday, it has been viewed more than 2 million times, shared over 27,000 times, and garnered over 37,000 comments and 70,000 reactions.
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