PDEA agent nabbed selling shabu

CEBU CITY, Philippines—An agent involved in an anti-illegal drugs campaign was arrested for allegedly peddling P100,000 worth of shabu, police said.

Intelligence Officer 1 Steven Valles of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) has been detained at the Bohol Provincial Police Office pending the filing of charges.

Valles, a native of Toledo City in Cebu, faces charges of drug pushing in violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, a non-bailable offense, said Bohol police chief Senior Superintendent Constantino Barot.

Valles was arrested during a buy bust operations conducted at Barangay Dos, in Tagbilaran City Bohol – just a few meters away from the gate of the PDEA Bohol office.

Barot said Valles sold three big packs of  shabu to an operative of the Provincial Intelligence Branch who posed as a buyer.

When Valles noticed that it was a buy-bust, Barot said, the suspect tried to resist arrest and run to the gate of the PDEA office. But Valles was overpowered by the PIB operatives, said Barot.

The buy-bust operation was the culmination of two months of surveillance on Valles, Barot said.

According to a police intelligence report, Barot said, Valles would deliver illegal drugs to Bohol from Cebu. The PIB was still looking into the possibility that Valles was working with other people in selling  drugs.

Director Adrian Alvariño, PDEA-7 chief, assured Barot that he would not intervene in the case against one of his agents.

Barot said that if needed, Alvariño also promised to help the PIB operatives  in prosecuting the case against Valles.

Alvariño said Valles was assigned to the PDEA-7 office on R. Landon Street in Cebu City but the agent would go to Bohol on weekends to attend law classes.

He told the Inquirer in a phone interview that he sent a PDEA team to Bohol to gather the facts of the arrest but not to help Valles.

The results of the PDEA investigation would be used in filing an administrative complaint against Valles, said Alvariño.

He said it would be up to Valles to defend himself in court. “He should suffer the consequences if it was true that he did it,” he added.