Odicta sons arrested in drug raid

Melvin Odicta Jr. (left) and his late father, Melvin Sr., as shown in footage from a security camera of a radio station in Iloilo City.

ILOILO CITY—Three sons of slain suspected drug lord Melvin Odicta Sr. were arrested after personnel of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) recovered firearms and suspected illegal drugs in a raid in their house here on Thursday.

Levi Ortiz, PDEA Western Visayas assistant regional director, said brothers Melvin Jr., Daryl and Michael will face charges of conspiracy in maintaining a drug den.

The raiding team, armed with a search warrant, recovered 19 packs of suspected “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride), three handguns, a shotgun, a hand grenade and cash from the two-story house of Melvin Jr., 36.

Ortiz said if tests show the containers had shabu, each pack would fetch P22,000  to P25,000 or a total value of P418,000 to P475,000.

Ortiz said operatives also recovered three sacks containing white crystalline substance, which he said could be chlorine.

The Odicta family’s lawyer, Marbehn Lombo, was also arrested, for obstruction of justice after he supposedly tried to to stop operatives from arresting the Odicta siblings and from gathering evidence from the house at the family compound in Barangays Malipayon and Tanza Esperanza here.

Lombo denied the allegations. He told reporters that the family cooperated with the search and even gave the keys to vaults to members of the raiding team.

Eleven people staying in the Odicta compound were taken to the PDEA headquarters in Iloilo City but Ortiz said only the Odicta siblings and their lawyer would be charged.

He said the others—house helpers and security guards—would be released.

Ortiz, citing PDEA’s surveillance operations, said the Odicta group, now allegedly led by Melvin Jr., continues to run the illegal drug trade in the region.

“Based on our investigation and surveillance operations, the Odicta group is still the biggest supplier of illegal drugs in Western Visayas,” Ortiz said.

Melvin Sr. and wife Meriam died after they were shot and killed by a lone gunman minutes after they disembarked from a vessel at the Caticlan port in Malay town in Aklan province on Aug. 29.

No suspects had been arrested three months after the killings but investigators surmised these were related to the couple’s alleged involvement in illegal drugs.

Odicta family members said they would not pursue any investigation or file complaints against those involved in the killings. They also issued an apology but denied any involvement in the illegal drug trade, saying they wanted to be left in peace.

The PDEA and Philippine National Police had tagged the slain Odicta as head of one of two main drug groups in Iloilo.

The other group is led by Richard Prevendido, who remains at large.