(UPDATED) The son of the owner of KSL Lodging House, which was raided by agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas and members of the Carbon Police Station last Saturday night, March 18, 2023, was arrested during a buy-bust last March 8.
Kenneth Ongsuco Lerio, who originally hails from Barangay Proper, Toledo City, lived in the lodging house when the operation was conducted against him.
The 39-year-old, who is currently detained in the Cebu City Jail, is facing charges for drug possession and drug selling.
Police had seized 25 sachets of shabu with a standard drug price of P238,000 from him.
Because of this, the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) will conduct a deeper probe to determine if Lerio was the source of Archie Villanueva’s illegal drugs.
Villanueva was tagged as the maintainer of the drug den inside one of the rooms in the lodging house, which is located along Leon Kilat Street in Barangay Kalubihan.
The 42-year-old was arrested along with four others during last Saturday’s raid.
Police seized 20 grams of shabu worth more than P100,000 from Villanueva, whose customers were mostly construction workers and vendors in the vicinity.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Colonel Janette Rafter, deputy director for operation of the CCPO, said they will call owners and managers of similar establishments to a meeting to discuss not only the problem of illegal drugs, but also human trafficking.
“Siguro (Maybe) we will make an effort to organize sa mga tag-iya ani nga mga (owners of) establishments because it is not only illegal drugs ang pwede mahitabo ana nga lugara pwede sad (that can only take place in these place, but also) trafficking. Actually naa mi na-monitor (we’ve already monitored) in some other area regarding sa trafficking,” he said.
He said they will file a case against those who refuse to cooperate with the police. (AYB,PJB)