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Friday, January 23, 2004
City’s top drug lord, 4 others arrested
By Minerva B. Gerodias Sun.Star Staff Reporter
with Mia E. Abellana
A SUSPECTED big-time drug pusher who tops the list of the most wanted drug traders in Cebu City and Central Visayas was arrested yesterday dawn.
Wilfredo “Lawlaw” Cabanit was arrested with four others, allegedly members of his syndicate, who also yielded three handguns apart from illegal drugs.
Elsewhere in Cebu Province, six men were arrested and up to 16 packs of shabu confiscated in separate operations last Wednesday.
Cabanit, though, was the largest catch. Aside from being number one in the Cebu City watch list of drug personalities, Cabanit also leads the list of the top 15 drug personalities being hunted by the Regional Anti-illegal Drugs Task Force (Raidsoft).
Seized from Cabanit were eight big packs of shabu weighing at least 81.38 grams. Regional Trial Court Judge Enriqueta Belarmino’s search warrant covered the operation.
A Cebu City police team led by Supt. Pablo Labra II and Senior Insp. Jonathan Abella conducted five simultaneous raids past 5 a.m. yesterday in Suba and Pasil, two of the city’s drug havens.
‘Relieved’
Cebu City Police Chief Cecil Ezra Sandalo said Cabanit, 47, of Suba, is considered the biggest pusher in the city and can dispose of an average of 20 kilos a week.
He allegedly gets his supply from Manila and Ozamiz City and, after 10 years in the business, sells narcotics not only in Cebu but also neighboring provinces.
Cabanit, however, denied ownership of the shabu found in his house.
He said he was in the comfort room doing the laundry when policemen suddenly arrived and rushed to the second floor.
He was later informed that shabu packs were found upstairs.
Cabanit admitted, though, that from 1993 to 1999, he sold drugs by the gram because he had to send his five children to school.
“If I had sold shabu by the kilo, I would be a millionaire by now. But I’m not. In fact, I have so many debts. I am even thankful I’ve been arrested so that I would no longer have to pay my debts,” Cabanit said in Cebuano.
Cabanit said he worked as a port stevedore in 1978 but was laid off in 1993. That’s when he started his illegal business.
He also insisted that in 1999, he stopped after he was
raided by the local police, and that he now sells fish and seaweed and buys scrap iron to earn a living.
Drugs, guns
Cabanit was out on bail at the time of his arrest.
This time, however, he might not be able to post bail as the Comprehensive Drugs Act of 2002 states that possession of 50 grams or more is considered a heinous crime, punishable by death.
Also arrested were Rodrigo Marayan, Celestino Cruz, Ricardo Torreon and Peter Abellana.
Seized from Marayan were 10 big packs of shabu (51.36 grams) and a .38 revolver; from Cruz, three big packs and four medium packs of shabu (54.28 grams) and a .38 revolver; from Torreon, 13 medium packs of shabu (55.77 grams) and a .38 revolver; and from Abellana, shabu repacking paraphernalia.
Abellana was arrested in the house of Silverio Badayos, the subject of the search warrant.
Badayos was not around, but the police found 10 big packs of shabu (58.01 grams) in his house.
The search warrants used in raiding the houses of Badayos, Marayan, Cruz and Torreon were issued by Judge Francisco Seville.
Marayan and Badayos were also in the watch list of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, while Torreon and Cruz appeared in the Cebu City police watch list of drug personalities.
6 rounded up
Elsewhere, separate anti-drug operations last Wednesday resulted to the arrest of six men and the confiscation of 16 packets of shabu.
In Barangay Aliwanay, Balamban, Comiso “Jamin” Diay, 22, allegedly sold
two packets of what was believed to be shabu to a police poseur-buyer.
Acting Balamban Police Chief Anthony Bagarinao led his men in the operation, which started at 10:30 p.m. As soon as Diay received the marked P100 bill, he was arrested.
Police seized 10 more packs when police frisked him.
Diay was taken to the Balamban Police Station and detained.
At 9:50 p.m., Fructuoso Fortunado, 46, was arrested in Barangay 2 Poblacion, Tuburan after allegedly selling two decks of shabu to PO1 Lope Arcillas.
Insp. Crisanto Duque led the team that conducted the buy-bust.
The police found on Fortunato two marked P100 bills and the two packets of shabu. Fortunado is a resident of Barangay Bagasawe.
In Inoburan, Naga, the Provincial Intelligence and Investigation Bureau conducted a buy-bust against Robert Baricuatro at 6 p.m.
As Baricuatro was handing a packet of shabu to the buyer, he realized he was dealing with a policeman. Without receiving the money, he fled before police could arrest him.
Police tried to chase him, but darkness made arrest impossible. However, they did not return empty-handed. They chanced upon four men having a pot session in the area.
They arrested Dario Geraldez and Joselito Mangila, both 20 and residents of Barangay Tangke 11, Naga, and Virgilio Pando, 19, and Paulo (real name withheld), 17, both residents of Barangay North Poblacion.
Police confiscated pieces of used foil, an empty plastic packet with traces of white powder believed to be shabu, a tooter and a lighter.
All four were brought to the Naga Police Station and detained, as charges were readied against them.
(January 23, 2004 issue)
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