2 DRUG DEALERS NABBED IN BENGUET

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet--Two suspected big-time drug pushers, described by
the police as the main suppliers of shabu to guest relations officers
(GROs) in nightclubs and girlie bars and taxi drivers in Baguio and
Benguet, have been arrested.

Senior Insp. Paul John Mencio, deputy chief of the Philippine Drug
Enforcement Agency (PDEA) regional office in the Cordilleras,
identified the suspects Ricardo Asiodche, 47, a vegetable dealer, and
Vicente Alipoon, 40, a taxi driver.

The suspects, Mencio said, were arrested in a drug buy bust while
allegedly handing over six sachets of shabu to a PDEA agent posing as
a buyer in this capital town Wednesday afternoon.

The six sachets contained 16.5 grams of shabu with a street value of
about P42,000, according to him.

He added the buy bust was coordinated with the Philippine National
Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) office also
in the Cordilleras.

The two suspects were on the watch list of the PDEA and the CIDG in
the region as drug pushers, Mencio said.

In particular, he said Asiodche has long been wanted for supplying
shabu to GROs in the nightclubs and girlie bars in Baguio City and
Benguet.

On the other hand, Alipoon supplied shabu and other illegal drugs to
his fellow taxi drivers, Mencio added.

He also disclosed that Asiodche was arrested in 2000 for selling shabu
and had been placed by the court on probation for a year.

In a related development, Senior Supt. Isagani Nerez, the director of
the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO), told The Manila Times that his
office was coordinating closely with the PDEA and the CIDG in the
renewed campaign against drugs.

Nerez said the arrest of Ariodche and Alipoon was a breakthrough in
the campaign since they were tagged as the principal suppliers of
shabu to GROs and taxi drivers.

He added his office was investigating the possibility that the
suspects and their companions were also supplying drugs to the
students in Baguio.

Citing a report from the BCPO Drug Enforcement Unit, about P1-million
worth of shabu is being transported to the city monthly.

"Ang ginagawa kasi ng mga drug pushers ay inilalagay na nila sa small
plastic sachet ang shabu para hindi malaking gramo ang mga ito at
maaari pa silang mag bail kung sakaling mahuli sila [What the drug
pushers usually do is place the shabu in small plastic sachets, hoping
that when they are arrested, they could still post bail]," Nerez told
The Times.

He said he coordinated with the school officials and representatives
of the Parents-Teachers Associations in the city for information on
drug-pushing activities in the various campuses of Baguio