AN elderly couple is now in jail after they were caught with P100,000 in shabu in a buy-bust near their house in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City last Friday afternoon.
Analita Desamparado, 67, and Ricardo “Boss Lolo” Mabatid, 51, were regarded by police as “big-time drug pushers,” as the live-in partners could allegedly dispose of 300 to 1,000 grams of shabu in a week.
Aside from the two, four other people were also caught red-handed in separate anti-illegal drug operations in Cebu City in the past two days.
One of them was Randy Acero, 33, who allegedly stood with the live-in couple when Desamparado handed a small sachet of shabu to an undercover policeman in Sitio J. Fortich, Banawa at 4:20 p.m.
Acero, identified as one of the couple’s workers, was allegedly holding another small sachet of shabu that time.
The Cebu City Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (CAIDSOTG) received a report on the couple’s illegal activities from parents of students in a nearby Christian school.
Worried
“These parents grew concerned because of the growing number of bystanders near the school,” CAIDSOTG Chief Eunil Avergonzado said.
A day after they received the tip, Avergonzado said the couple was placed under surveillance for three weeks.
Avergonzado said they had observed that the customers of Mabatid and Desamparado were motorcycle-for-hire (habal-habal) and taxi drivers. They also classified the couple as level-two drug pushers.
In the bust, it was Mabatid who received the P200 payment from the poseur-buyer. Desamparado then handed a small sachet of what appeared to be shabu to their supposed customer.
Pot session
When police swooped in to arrest the suspects, alias Boss Lolo was reportedly found holding a plastic container with a medium and nine small sachets of suspected shabu in it.
The confiscated illegal items, Avergonzado said, may weigh up to 10 grams and cost up to P100,000 in the streets.
In Barangay Inayawan, two men were caught in a pot session by roving police officers at 8 p.m. on the same day.
They were identified as cousins Romelyn Margallo, 37, and Ritchie Margallo, 34. Some drug paraphernalia were seized from them.
In Barangay Luz yesterday, another man was allegedly caught with two sachets of shabu with him while PO1 Rayme Veraque and PO3 Rodel Abejuela were patrolling around the streets.
The man was identified as Christian Vosotros, 35, of Sitio Mabuhay of the same barangay.