A GOVERNMENT employee, who is an alleged member of a drug syndicate, was arrested in an anti-drug operation in Zamboanga del Norte province, the police said Monday, September 10.
Chief Superintendent Edwin De Ocampo, deputy regional director for administration of the Police Regional Office-Zamboanga Peninsula, identified the arrested suspect as Gary Cabanit, 38, an employee of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).
De Ocampo said Cabanit was arrested in a drug bust at 6:37 p.m. Sunday inside the DILG office in Poblacion village, Siocon town, following a month-long intelligence build-up and surveillance in the suspect’s illegal drug trade.
“Prior to the arrest, there was an information that the suspect was repacking the illegal items, selling and conducting pot session inside the DILG office,” De Ocampo said quoting the report of the police in Siocon.
He said that Cabanit, who is an alleged member of the Sahibad Drug Group, is listed as high-value target Level 2 drug personality in Siocon.
The police official said that the suspect is a drug surrenderer since the latter has surrendered in 2016 when Oplan Tokhang was implemented.
He said confiscated from the suspect were: one medium-size and six small-size plastic sachets of suspected shabu, P500 marked money, P3,598 cash in different denominations, counterfeit identification (ID) card of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, different ID cards, and illegal drug paraphernalia.
He said the suspect was detained while appropriate charges are set to be filed against him. (Bong Garcia/SunStar Philippines)