AN alleged cohort of slain drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz and three others were arrested by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 inside a motel in Mandaue City last Wednesday night.
The NBI received a report that suspicious persons checked into a motel in Barangay Subangdaku at 11 p.m.
“We verified and we went to the room. They were surprised,” Arnel Pura, NBI special agent, told SunStar Cebu.
Frederick Garcia, 30, who served jail time for six years in the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City for drugs, was arrested together with Israel Sadura, 29, Jeron Apas, 33 and Elly Hermotas, 32.
Garcia hails from Barangay Duljo-Fatima, Cebu City.
He was released after the Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the lower court, Pura said.
The NBI is verifying if Garcia is indeed another right-hand man of Diaz.
Pura said that Garcia gets his drugs from Duljo and that drug offenders have found a new strategy to avoid detection.
“They check into a motel and their clients would be the ones to go to their room. They will transact there and their patrons will stay for less than 10 minutes, long enough time to exchange the money and the shabu,” Pura said.
Asked by reporters if the source is a remnant from the network of Cebu’s biggest drug lord, Pura said it could be.
“They are still there. They don’t really stop,” he said.
The NBI 7 confiscated from the men four medium packs and 40 small sachets of shabu worth P248,000 based on the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) value.
Also seized was a caliber 22 Magnum with four live bullets, drug proceeds, and sniffing and repacking paraphernalia.
NBI agents are requesting managers of hotels and motels to report to the authorities in case they encounter a similar incident.
“Be on the lookout for persons with motorcycles or vehicles who unusually visit the room for a few minutes and come out. Tell us where these suspicious personalities are,” Pura said.
In this case, the group has been staying for eight days in the motel before the agents caught them, after receiving information from a tipster.
The suspects will be charged with violation of RA 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.
For his part, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Director Noli Taliño said that some motel owners have asked the PNP to conduct an Oplan Tokhang in their establishment because they suspected that this was being used as a drug den.
Police arrested Joselito Tecson, allegedly Diaz’s hitman and courier, on Dec. 4, and Joselito Arellano, 46, Diaz’s driver and bodyguard, on Dec. 16.
Diaz’s elusive collector, Alan Tabalin, 51, was also caught during a serving of a warrant of arrest in the City of Naga, Cebu last Dec. 18.