Drug mule arrested in Cebu buy-bust

CEBU CITY—A young drug mule will celebrate his 20th birthday on Sunday inside the jail after he was arrested on Saturday for selling one kilo of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride), worth P11.8-million.

Genes Ermitanio, of Barangay Guadalupe in Cebu City, was collared in a buy-bust operation conducted by the group of Supt. Romeo Santander, chief of the City Intelligence Branch (CIB) of the Cebu City Police Office, around 12:50 a.m. at corner Tres De Abril Street and Salvador Street in Barangay Labangon.

Ermitanio, who will turn 20 on Sunday, is detained at the CCPO stockade pending the filing of charges for violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.

Santander said two months of negotiation between the police informant and the suspect took place before the actual drug transaction at dawn today.

Ermitanio did not know that policemen were already in the area when he handed a big pack of shabu placed inside a plastic bag to a police informant for P400,000.

When Ermitanio noticed that he was given fake money, he tried to escape but the policemen were able to collar him.

Santander said Ermitanio claimed that he was ordered by someone to deliver the shabu but later admitted he had been a drug courier since his release from jail early 2015.

Ermitanio was arrested last 2013 for robbery. He and a partner would rob their victims while on board a motorcycle.

But the case was dismissed after the complainant did not show interest in pursuing the case.

Santander said Ermitanio claimed that he was recruited as a drug courier while he was detained in the city jail. CDG