18 drug suspects nabbed in Quezon operations

Candelaria town and Lucena City in Quezon province (Google maps)

LUCENA CITY, Quezon – At least 10 suspected drug pushers and eight alleged users were nabbed in separate operations in Candelaria town and Lucena City in Quezon province on Saturday and Sunday, police said.

Senior Supt. Rhoderick Armamento, Quezon police provincial director, said Candelaria anti-illegal drug operatives, in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), arrested the nine suspects in three buy-bust operations in Barangays (villages) Mangilag Sur and Malabanban Norte on Saturday and early Sunday.

The suspects, two of them women, were identified as Donna Rose Merlin, 28; Rachelle Solana, 36; Darwin de Villa, 38; Nomer Jimenez, 28; Jessie Pereda, 25; Nielbert Catipon, 24; Michael Magpantay, 24; Felix Moncherog, 26; and Angelo Mahusay, 20. The suspects yielded a total of 18.5 grams of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) worth P34,224.

Supt. Freddie Dantes, Candelaria police chief, tagged the suspects as newly identified drug pushers in the locality.

In Lucena City, the provincial drug enforcement unit led by Supt. Marloew Torina collared suspected drug pusher Alvin Sorezo, 40, and consequently discovered a drug den in Barangay Isabang in an operation early Saturday.

Report said as the undercover cop was arresting Sorezo after he sold a plastic sachet of shabu, the suspect ran inside his residence, leading pursuing policemen to eight persons in a pot session inside the house.

The eight alleged drug users were identified as Efren de Castro, 47; Alvin Orig, 32; Efren Abellera, 39; Mark Mendoza, 31; Jovani Peralta, 40; Joven Mindanao, 23; Bong Bong Llanet, 26; and Mitziel Rafael, 38.

Police seized 5.27 grams of shabu with an estimated street value of P9,667.  SFM/rga