CONTROVERSIAL businessman Kenneth Dong was allegedly identified as one of the suppliers of party drugs in Cebu.
This was revealed by Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Royina Garma, who said she received a report about Dong’s involvement in distributing Ecstasy tablets.
Garma said the report needs validation. Dong is one of the former owners of a club in Mandaue City.
The police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) 7, she said, are monitoring some clubs where party drugs are reportedly sold to rich teenagers.
On Monday, Feb. 4, Dong was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation in Muntinlupa for his alleged involvement as middleman in the P6.4-billion shabu shipment that slipped past the Bureau of Customs in 2017.
Garma said Ecstasy tablets are being sold in disco bars and her investigators are looking into the possible involvement of Dong.
“There’s also a report that liquefied shabu is also proliferating there. But we still don’t know if it’s his. It’s still speculative, but PDEA knows that,” Garma told Superbalita Cebu.
The police official said the CCPO and PDEA 7 are monitoring a personality who is possibly the brains behind the trading of Ecstasy tablets in Cebu.
Meanwhile, a call center agent was arrested on Thursday night, Feb. 7, after selling Ecstasy tablets to a narcotics agent.
Elvin Joseph Laput, 24, yielded 15 tablets after he was caught in a buy-bust by PDEA 7 agents in Barangay Capitol Site, Cebu City.
PDEA 7 Director Wardley Getalla said his agents, with the help of the Regional Intelligence Division of Police Regional Office 7, placed Laput under surveillance after the suspect’s name surfaced as one of the suppliers of Ecstasy during the Sinulog season last month.
Past 8 p.m. on Thursday, undercover agents transacted with Laput, who agreed to meet them on Escario St. in Barangay Capitol Site.
Laput told Superbalita Cebu he had difficulty paying the P3,500 rental fee for his boarding house and a certain Matoy forced him to sell Ecstasy tablets to their customers, who are mostly rich kids.
He said he was still new in the illegal activity.
“It was Matoy who pressured me. He kept on telling me I was the only one who could sell it, promising to pay the rent in return. I am not a pusher, sir. I was only ordered,” Laput said.
But the PDEA disputed the claim, saying Laput was already in the business for some time.
Investigators said they are now tracing which group Laput belongs to, adding he may have been working with three to four cohorts.
Getalla said he was confused about Laput’s decision to transact outside a bar.
The PDEA 7 has been monitoring bars where party drugs are rampant, and these are the places that Laput often sold his supplies.
Getalla said the suspect had nothing to do with the death of a 19-year-old woman, who collapsed after she reportedly took a party drug during a concert on the eve of the Sinulog Festival. (from AYB of Superbalita Cebu, KAL)