Baguio City's shabu tiangge busted

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines - Ten alleged drug pushers and users were arrested after a police raided a drug den in Pacdal recently. An assortment of illegal drug paraphernalia was also seized. The Pacdal den was likened to the shabu tiangge busted by police in Pasay City last year. This resulted, after a team from the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) regional office served a search warrant on the occupants of a suspected illegal drug den located at 46 Siapno Road. Five of those arrested then were found to be only minors. They were identified on Thursday by Senior Superintendent Cedrick Train, PNP-CIDG regional chief in the Cordillera, as Solicio Latoza Tano, 21, a resident of JC-255 Pico, Km. 5, La Trinidad, Benguet; Rey Pareño Rivera, 42; Peter John Agoo Villareal, 22, who lives here at 46 Siapno Road, Pacdal; Alberto Yabut Urbano, 38, who lives at JC-258 Pico, La Trinidad, Benguet; and Catherine Perez Hieras, 29, who resides at FD-229 Pines Park, Km 4, La Trinidad, Benguet. Five others, who are only minors, were described to be aged 15 to 16, and residents of 46 Siapno Road, Pacdal; FD-229 Pines Park, La Trinidad, Benguet; 72-38 Poblacion, La Trinidad, Benguet; Villamor Street, Mines View; and Bakakeng Old Site. Confiscated from the raided illegal drug den were 10 clear plastic sachets containing a white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu or methamphetamine hydrochloride. The team also got a yellow pad paper and tickler containing statistical data computations of drug transactions in the Cordillera and the Ilocos Region. Among the things that were confiscated were a live caliber 45 bullet, empty cal. 45 and Super .38 bullets shells, an assortment of rolled and cut aluminum foil, three glass beakers containing various mixtures of suspected shabu, a glass canister used for mixing shabu, an improvised pipe used for smoking marijuana, 11 improvised burners, 29 lighters, one syringe, one set of cutters, a Swiss knife, four tooters placed inside a metal box, one weighing scale, one Chromic Ethicon pharmaceutical product suspected to be used in shabu mixtures, a pair of medical scissors, 10 used cigarette pack aluminum foils with suspected marijuana residue, and a full grown marijuana plant. According to Train, a composite group composed of a PNP-CIDG team led by Inspector Jerry Fernandez, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) regional office, Assistant City Prosecutor Elmer Sagsago, Pacdal barangay officials and media representatives served a warrant at the residence of Catherine Hieras and Teddy Villareal. Villareal was not around at the time. He said the search warrant was issued by Judge Edilberto Claravall of Baguio's Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 60 for an alleged violation of Republic Act (RA) 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law. Charges are being prepared against them before the City Prosecutor's Office. "After we turned over the arrested minors to the City Social Welfare and Development office, the rest were detained in the Baguio City Jail," Train said. - Sun.Star Baguio