2 alleged ‘shabu’ pushers nabbed in Ormoc

ORMOC CITY, Philippines—Two men were arrested in separate operations here on Monday for allegedly having in their possession the illegal drug “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride), which authorities said had an estimated street value of P42,000.

Operatives of the Anti Illegal Drugs and Special Operations Task Force placed Arnel Mascariñas, 44, and Patrocinio Javier, 38, both unemployed and residents of Barangay (village) Alegria, Ormoc City under weeks of surveillance after the two were believed to have been selling the drug.

While the houses of the two suspects were just a few meters a part, the police maintained that both “operate” separately.

The AIDSOTF first conducted a search on the house of Mascariñas at 4:40 a.m. Monday, followed by another search on Javier’s house at 6 a.m. The raids were conducted by virtue of a search warrant issued by Judge Apolinario Buaya of Ormoc Regional Trial Court Branch 35 last September 29.

The police team found one sachet of suspected shabu and an unlicensed .45 cal. pistol with six live ammunition from the house of Mascariñas while they confiscated 17 medium and two large heat-sealed packs containing suspected shabu and P3,250 cash.

Inspector Harris Rebato, who heads the AIDSOTF, said only the drugs were subject of the search but the guns were discovered during the “incidental search.”

The AIDSOTF operatives, however, could not give an estimate as to the volume of the seized substance, which have yet to be subjected to confirmatory tests by the police crime laboratory.

For his part, Mascariñas denied that the seized suspected shabu was in his possession, adding that he had no knowledge of .45 cal. pistol that was recovered from a shoe box.

But Javier admitted that he owned the 19 sachets taken from his house, adding that the substance in the medium-sized sachets would be sold at P2,000 each while the large sachets were priced at P4,000 each.

Mascariñas and Javier faced charges of violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.