4, including retired jail employees, nabbed in Lucena drug bust

LUCENA CITY—Four people, including a former jail guard and his wife, were arrested by policemen in a drug bust in a subdivision here on Tuesday, police said Wednesday.

Supt. Dennis de Leon, Lucena City police chief, said the suspects – Nelson Pacia, 60, a retired guard at the Quezon provincial jail; his wife, Dolora, 65, a retired jail administrative assistant; Lani Curdura, 46; and Joel Ariola, 37 – were arrested in a house in Pleasantville Subdivision in Barangay Ilayang Iyam here.

Seized from them were 150 grams of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) worth P280,000.

SPO1 Rosemarie Angcana, Lucena police public information officer, said the Pacia couple’s house served as a delivery and pick up point for drugs.

Angcan said Curdura and Ariola, both from Dasmariñas City in Cavite province, supply shabu to the Pacia couple.

On Sept. 5, police arrested two suspected drug pushers in another buy-bust operation in the same subdivision and seized 300 grams of shabu worth P555,000.

The suspects told investigators that they got their supply of illegal drugs from Cavite, prompting the police to launch an operation in General Mariano Alvarez town in Cavite that led to the arrest of their suppliers.

At least 499 grams of shabu, worth P923,000, were seized from the suspects in that police operation. JE