POLICE FILES

MISSING MAN ENDED UP DEAD

THE body of a 23-year-old man was found in a grassy area in barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City.

Police identified the fatality as Jomar Braga, 23, who had been reported missing a week earlier.

The body was found by 30-year-old househelp Merryjane Medrano past 8 a.m. yesterday.

Medrano was in the area to dig a pit but a stench led her to the area where the body was found.

Police said it was not immediately known if the victim had external injuries since the body was in a state of decomposition.

A .38 revolver with four bullets and an empty shell in its cylinder was found near the body.

Police said the man was last seen alive engaged in a drinking session with friends last Sept. 12. Braga supposedly left with a friend but had since failed to return home, police said./CORRESPONDENT NORMAN V. MENDOZA

GAS TANK EXPLODES

TWO maintenance workers escaped unhurt after a gas tank exploded in a compound in barangay Opao, Mandaue City Thursday night.

The explosion occurred while Alfonso Retiza and Julian Anggong, workers of Sea Oil Gas Company, were cleaning a tank which could hold 20,000 liters of gasoline.

The tank had been emptied first before the two workers started cleaning it.

Investigators said the two workers used a ducting hose to clean the tank but as soon as they switched on the blower, the tank caught fire and exploded.

Luckily, the two workers were able to run to safety before the explosion.

The two men put out the fire using fire extinguishers.

Damage was pegged at P2,000.

SFO1 Nilo Cosido, fire investigator of Mandaue City Fire Station, said the fire had been extinguished when they arrived in the area at 6:55 p.m.

The compound on G. Ouano Extension is owned by Arctura Corp. which houses four tenants storing gas tanks./CORRESPONDENT NORMAN V. MENDOZA

MAN NABBED FOR DRUGS

POLICE arrested a man who was allegedly caught with packs of suspected shabu in his person in barangay Pasil, Cebu City.

Police said illegal drugs worth at least P40,000 were recovered from Michael Cabije’s possession.

Operatives of the Investigation and Detective Management Branch (IDMB) were patrolling past 3 a.m. yesterday when they spotted Cabije, a resident of the said barangay, sitting on bench counting several packs containing white crystalline substance.

When frisked, 25 small packs and a big pack of suspected shabu were recovered in Cabije’s keeping, police said.

Cabije refused to comment on his arrest.

Cabijue was brought to the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office yesterday where a complaint for possession of illegal drugs was filed against him./CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON