PDEA nabs No.2 drug HVTs, dismantles drug den
OPERATIVES of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) not only arrested the province’s No.1 drug high value priority target via a search warrant on Tuesday, January 26 but arrested four drug runners and dismantled a drug den in Barangay Mabanogbog, Urdaneta City.
Rechie Camacho, PDEA-Pangasinan assistant provincial director, said Yuri John Salazar, a top priority target of PDEA, was also running a drug den disguised as a shanty in his compound.
Also arrested during the operation were Justin John Untalan, Rolando Corpuz, John Dominic Apongol, and Antonio Dizon, who were in the area when PDEA operatives stormed Salazar’s residence. The four were identified as Salazar’s runners who sold shabu in the streets.
The search yielded 14 heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets containing shabu that weighed 16 grams, worth P108K. Also recovered were three cellphones, two weighing scales, and drug paraphernalia for shabu repacking.
Salazar who operated mainly in Eastern Pangasinan and in parts of the Ilocos region, rose to become the province’s top drug honcho because of the range of his network.
Camacho said Salazar used his fruit-vegetable dealership business, traveling freely as cover for his drug operations.
The suspects are facing charges in violation of Republic Act 9165.
In a follow-up operation on Salazar’s operations, PDEA eventually arrested another high value target, Macmod Cabugatan, a resident of Barangay Zone 2, Rosales, one of Salazar’s drug mules, Thursday, January 28, in a buy-bust operation in the town.
The buy-bust operation resulted in the confiscation of two heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets of shabu, weighing 50 grams, worth P340k, the recovery of P1,000 marked bill, 199 pieces of boodle money, a cellphone and the motorcycle he used.
Cabugatan attempted to escape after the exchange but one agent caught up with him.
In an interview, Cabugatan admitted Salazar made him collect supply of shabu from an unnamed source.
He said he met Salazar as fruit-vegetable dealer from whom he bought mangoes in the past.
Cabugatan, who said he needed the money provided by Salazar to support his family of six children because his RTW business was not doing well, is also facing charges in violation of R.A. 9165. (Ahikam Pasion)
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