TEN out of the 29 active and retired police personnel implicated in the alleged irregularities in a 2022 anti-illegal drug operation, which resulted in the arrest of a police officer and the seizure of at least a ton of methamphetamine hydrochloride (shabu) with an estimated value of over P6.7 billion, are now under police custody.
The 10 police officers who were either arrested or surrendered were:
*Retired Lieutenant Colonel Arnulfo Ibañez
*Police Major Michael Angelo Salmingo
*Police Captain Randolf Angel Piñon
*Retired Police Lieutenant Silverio Bulleser II
*Police Executive Master Sergeant Emmanuel Docena
*Police Staff Sergeant Alejandro Flores
*Patrolmen Darius Camacho
*Patrolman James Gabuat Osalvo
*Patrolman Nathaniel Dela Cuesta Gomez
*Patrolman Windel de Ramos
These policemen were among the 30 police officers facing charges for planting evidence, delay, and bungling the prosecution of drug cases.
Recommended bail was put at P200,000 for each of the accused.
The cases stemmed from the irregularities during the October 8, 2022 drug operations conducted in Tondo, Manila against dismissed policeman Rodolfo B. Mayo, who yielded two kilograms of shabu.
Based on the investigation of the National Police Commission (Napolcom) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Mayo’s arrest was erroneously reported.
Mayo was arrested in a buy-bust operation October 8, but the operating unit later stated that the arrest occurred at dawn of October 9.
Following Mayo’s arrest, he was brought to his lending office in Sta. Cruz, Manila where police seized nearly 1,000 kilograms of shabu.
However, the police excluded Mayo from the report and only declared his staff as the arrested person during the operation.
It was later discovered that several policemen had pilfered drug evidence, but it was subsequently returned.
DILG secretary Jonvic Remulla tagged the incident as a “grand conspiracy to conceal a criminal enterprise” involving the selling, arrest, storage, intent to distribute and cover-up.
PNP chief General Rommel Marbil earlier ordered the involved active policemen to be disarmed and placed under restrictive custody. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)