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Friday, January 13, 2006
P3M shabu 'for festivity' seized
By Mia E. Abellana
CEBU CITY --- A kilo of shabu worth P3 million in the market was seized, allegedly from a janitor of a ship that came from Ozamis City Thursday morning.
It was the biggest drug haul in recent years.
Allan Abayan, 37, according to police operatives, handed over a box filled with the goods to a porter and then fled. He was later caught in his home in Mambaling, Cebu City.
Superintendent Ronnie Montejo, deputy chief of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7, said that Abayan brought a box containing 10 100-gram packs of shabu all the way from Ozamis City and transported it onboard the mv Butuan B1.
The ship docked at Pier 7 in Mandaue City at 7:45 a.m.
Montejo said the operation was the result of more than a month's surveillance by the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Bureau (CIIB) and Vice Control Section (VCS).
He added that it was through reliable information that they caught Abayan.
However, they did not know his full name and were only looking for a certain Allan.
Big-time
Superintendent Pablo Labra and Inspector George Ylanan received the information and have been working to nab the "big-time drug personality."
Since they learned that the delivery was not going to be in Cebu City, which is their jurisdiction, they coordinated with the PDEA 7.
A certain Felix Daroy was identified as the man who owned the shabu and sent Abayan to deliver this.
Montejo said Daroy is known as a major shabu supplier for the Visayas-Mindanao area.
Daroy's last known address is in Ozamis City.
Cebu City Councilor Augustus Pe said 80 percent of Cebu's shabu supply came from Mindanao, while the remaining 20 percent came from Manila.
He said this was why they wanted to monitor ships from Mindanao.
Montejo said they were working to find out who Dagoy's local contacts are.
2 hours later
Montejo admitted that as far as they were concerned, Abayan was just the courier.
The Dangerous Drugs Board placed the value of a kilo of shabu at P2 million, but this would reach P3 million out in the streets, he added.
Abayan, though, said he did not know who Dagoy was because a porter in Ozamis City gave him the box for delivery to Cebu.
Abayan, who worked as a janitor for an agency contracted by Gothong Lines, had ordered a porter to hand over the box to a woman only identified as Bernadette.
She reportedly escaped.
Police tried to make follow-up operations to arrest her, but failed.
When the operatives saw the box, they first pounced on the porter, thinking he was the man sent to deliver the goods.
Montejo said after further investigation, they decided the porter was innocent and went on a hot pursuit to catch Abayan, whom the porter identified as the one who told him to give the box to Bernadette.
They caught up with him in Mambaling at 9 a.m.
Eyewitnesses
Initially, Abayan denied having anything to do with the delivery, saying there were no drugs taken from him during his arrest.
"Wala ma'am, uy. Sus tawn," were his first words.
However, he later admitted he knew Bernadette because he already delivered shabu to her twice in November.
Abayan said he was aware that the goods he brought contained an illegal substance.
But he stressed that police did not get the shabu from him.
He admitted getting P1,000 from his first delivery, but said that he did not get a cent Thursday.
Montejo, though, said all the operatives saw that Abayan had the box first before handing it over to the porter.
Police also plan to include Daroy in the charges.
Under the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, anyone found guilty of possession of more than 50 grams of shabu is punishable by death.
Those caught are also denied bail.
(January 13, 2006 issue)
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