NARCGROUP NABS 3 IN LARGEST SHABU HAUL

OPERATIVES of the 14th Regional Narcotics Group seized approximately 278
grams of shabu with the arrest of three suspected members of a big-time
drug syndicate operating in Baguio at a buy-bust operation in Bakakeng
Norte on Wednesday night.

Senior Inspector Marcos Eblahan Jr, Nargroup-Cordillera Administrative
Region (CAR) chief, said that this latest seizure is the biggest anti-drug
haul made this year in the region.

Eblahan identified the alleged shabu dealers as Efren Gonzales Fernando,
49, from San Leonardo, Nueva Ecija; Jocelyn Cristi de Leon, 38, married,
from Pasig City; and Juliet Laban Sandoval, 29, from Romblon, Romblon.

Eblahan, in a report to Chief Supt. George Alino, director of the Police
Regional Office in the Cordilleras, said that the suspects were arrested
after selling to an undercover narcotic agent, who acted as a poseur-buyer,
one heat-sealed transparent plastic sachet containing a crystalline
substance believed to be shabu or metamphetamine hydrochloride.

Nargroup-CAR operatives also recovered three more heat-sealed plastic
sachets containing shabu. The contents of the sachets were estimated to
have a market value of P556,000, according to Eblahan.

"Prior to their arrest, they had been the subject of a long surveillance
operation," Eblahan told reporters, even as he asked the media to warn drug
pushers and users to stop their nefarious activities.

Eblahan revealed that all the drugs recovered from these suspects were
brought to the PNP Crime Laboratory regional office in Camp Bado Dangwa, La
Trinidad, Benguet, for laboratory testing, while the arrested persons are
now detained at the Baguio City Jail.

Eblahan, meanwhile, bared that the Nargroup-CAR, in coordination with other
law enforcement agencies in the region, have intensified their campaign
against the proliferation of all forms of illegal drugs in line with the
government's determined bid to bring drug pushers and users behind bars.

The Drug Enforcement Unit of the Baguio City Police Office reporter earlier
that taxi drivers, fly-by-night sex workers and sometimes, even minors,
were used as couriers by drug pushers in the city.

Two months ago, Rep. Mauricio Domogan expressed alarm over reports reaching
his office that a shipment of shabu, which was unloaded at an unnamed
seaport, has been transported to the city for distribution.

"This report is very alarming considering its implications to Baguio
residents and students," Domogan told reporters, as he claimed that he got
the report from an anti-drug enforcement agency in Metro Manila.