NUMBER of drug suspects based on watch lists prepared by the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council or Badac INFOGRAPHIC BY ALBERT RODRIGUEZ
CEBU CITY—Mere mention of friendship with suspected drug lord Rolando “Kerwin” Espinosa Jr. can get you in trouble.
The only child of the late Mayor Edgarino Espina, of Maasin City in Southern Leyte, was arrested following an operation that was triggered by Espina’s claim that he and Kerwin are friends.
Policemen waited outside the room rented by Roderic James “Ric-ric” Espina at Allsons Inn in Barangay Lorega in this city since they didn’t have a warrant.
When Espina opened the door past 5 a.m. on Wednesday, police caught a glimpse of packs of marijuana and “shabu,” and two firearms on the table.
They barged in and arrested Espina.
Five hours after the arrest, police learned that Espina had an arrest warrant for attempted homicide issued by a trial court in Maasin City.
User, but …
Espina denied selling illegal drugs and knowing Espinosa, said to be the biggest drug lord operating in Eastern Visayas and parts of Cebu. Kerwin remains at large and is being hunted down by the police.
Espina, however, admitted he had been a drug user since he was 18 but recently planned to surrender to the police.
“I’m willing to undergo a lie detector test to prove I don’t know Kerwin. I can die now if I’m not telling the truth,” he said.
While at the pension house, Espina roused the suspicion of the staff after he bragged that he and Kerwin were friends.
The suspicions grew when he refused to let any pension staffer in his room to bring food or clean it, prompting the staff to request for surveillance operations from police on Espina.
Found inside the room were a plastic bag of dried marijuana leaves, a sachet of shabu, drug paraphernalia, .45-cal. pistol, a .22-cal. revolver, ammunition, two mobile phones, a laptop and two black bonnets.
Bingo
Charges of illegal possession of firearms and violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 would be filed against Espina at the Cebu City Prosecutors’ Office.
Chief Supt. Noli Talino, head of the Central Visayas police, said Espina’s arrest is a good example of cooperation between private citizens and policemen.
“The police got information from someone and we verified it. And then, bingo! We got him (Espina),” he told reporters.
Talino said police are investigating Espina’s connections in Central Visayas.
He said members of Kerwin’s syndicate could be hiding in Cebu province.
Defense
Talino defended the absence of a warrant in the operation against Espina. “We were supposed to conduct a drug bust operation. But he opened the door and there was contraband inside his room. Of course, the police can arrest him,” he said.
Espina, 54, was born in Cebu City but spent his childhood years in Maasin City, Southern Leyte province.
He returned to Cebu in the 1980s and settled down in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City.
Espina got married to a Cebuana and had four children, one of whom died.
In February 2016, he had a spat with his wife, prompting him to move out of their home and rent a room at Allsons Inn in Barangay Lorega.
“I’m really depressed because of my broken relationship with my wife,” Espina said.