BACOLOD CITY—A village official who used to be a basketball star, a grandson of former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo and another scion of a prominent family were arrested in a buy-bust operation on Monday night.
Joshua Robert Arroyo, in his early 20s, suffered a gunshot wound in the arm after he allegedly tried to stop an agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) from entering his room which was next to the room of Manuel “Maui” Huelar Jr., Barangay (village) 35 captain, who was the subject of the operation.
Also arrested with Arroyo and Huelar was Christian Joseph Mijares, 20, of Pontevedra town, Negros Occidental.
They were detained in precinct 8 in Bacolod City pending filing of criminal charges.
Huelar used to play for the Negros Slashers in the Metropolitan Basketball Association.
Arroyo is grandson of former Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo, younger brother of Mike Arroyo.
The two denied the allegations that they were into illegal drugs. Arroyo could not be reached for comment because he was brought to the hospital with a gunshot wound.
PDEA Negros Island regional director Julius Navales said said an agent went to a room inside an inn in Liroville Subdivision in Barangay Singcang-Airport in the city, around 7 p.m. on Monday supposedly to buy shabu from Huelar.
Huelar was arrested after he handed a pack of shabu to the agent.
Seized from the suspect were a plastic sachet of suspected methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” worth P500 as buy-bust item and P1,000 worth of shabu, said Navales.
He said they knocked on the door of the room next to Huelar.
But Navales said Arroyo tried to stop the PDEA agent from entering the room. The agent pulled the trigger of the gun when his hands got stuck on the door, hitting Arroyo.
Two sachets of suspected shabu and several drugs paraphernalia were recovered from the room of Arroyo, Navales said.
Mijares, who was in the room with Arroyo, was allegedly caught with a medium-size sachet of suspected shabu, a pack of plastic sachets, a digital weighing scale, an improvised tooter, two disposable lighters and a cellular phone. RAM/rga
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