THREE suspected drug peddlers were arrested in a drug bust conducted by the authorities in the different parts of the Cordillera region.

Chief Superintendent Rolando Nana of the Police Regional Office Cordillera said the arrest is part of their continuous monitoring of drug pushers or suppliers and those who underwent and graduated from the government’s recovery and wellness program to ensure that they will not resume using illegal drugs.

He said Giovannie Ace Ramos Octaviano aka Ace, 30, driver and boarder of Unit 12, Pinsao Pilot was collared by combined drug enforcement operatives of Baguio City Police Office, Benguet Provincial Police Office and the Cordillera Regional Office.

Octaviano was arrested along Shuntog Strèet, Barangay Rizal Monument on September 24 after selling a sachet of suspected “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) to one of the agents who posed as a poseur buyer, Nana added.

Seized from his possession were eight small heat sealed plastic sachets of suspected shabu, cash amounting to P500, drug bust money amounting to P6,500, assorted drug paraphernalia and his vehicle.

Another drug dealer was arrested by the same operatives in his residence at Betag, La Trinidad, Benguet in the afternoon of the same day.

The arrested dealer was identified as Francis Aowing Ballangan, 32, native of Tinglayan, Kalinga. Prior to his arrest, the suspect sold a sachet containing shabu to one of the police agents who pause as a pursuer buyer.

Seized from his possession were two pieces of heat sealed transparent plastic sachet containing suspected shabu, placed inside a black small pouch, one cellular phone and P1,000 drug bust money.

In Abra, Hilario Barte Guerrero, 43, driver, was collared in his residence at Barangay Calumbaya, Dolores in the morning of September 25, by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by Judge Corpus Alzate for violating R.A. 9165 otherwise known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Board of 2002 with a recommended bail bond of P40,000 for his temporary liberty.