Quezon village chief nabbed in drug raid

LUCENA CITY — A barangay captain, who is a suspected drug user in Gumaca town in Quezon province, was arrested in a police operation early Saturday.

The Gumaca police reported that anti-illegal drugs operatives armed with a search warrant swooped down on the house of Peter Vermont Noscal, 39, chairman of Barangay San Diego Poblacion at 3:15 a.m.

The raiders reportedly found four plastic sachets of “shabu” (crystal meth) worth P2,775 in the street market, and drug-sniffing paraphernalia.

“The police operation was conducted on the basis of validated reports from the community particularly the illegal drug activities of the suspect,” said the police report.

Gumaca Mayor Webster Letargo said he was saddened at Noscal’s arrest on suspected illegal drugs activities.

“May his arrest serve as a warning to remaining drug users and peddlers in our town. No one is above the law. We’re implementing the full force of the law to get rid of this social menace in our locality,” Letargo said in a phone interview. Delfin T. Mallari Jr./lzb