Two ‘high-value’ drug suspects arrested in Misamis Oriental

MANTICAO, Misamis Oriental — Two individuals described by the Philippine National Police as high-value targets were arrested early morning Sunday in operations conducted by the Misamis Oriental Drug Enforcement Unit and the municipal police stations of Manticao and Naawan.

Manticao arrest

Punong Barangay Johny Denque of Camanga in Manticao was arrested by virtue of warrant of arrest issued by Judge Renato Arroyo of the 10th Municipal Trial Circuit Court of February 23.

Two sachets of suspected shabu, marked money worth P200 from the buy-bust operation, and an explosive were recovered from Denque's house.

Denque denied he owns the alleged shabu, and claimed that the explosive is owned by a mentally challenged person who passed by his house. He said that he found it was a blank.

According to Police Senior Inspector James Bastatas of the Drug Enforcement Unit in Misamis Oriental, Denque is number 4 on the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency's (PDEA) list on the provincial level.

In March 2017, a constituent in his barangay attacked Denque with a sickle, sending him to the hospital for nine days.

He said that the attacker got angry that Denque's name was not included in the drug watchlist.

Naawan arrest

In Naawan, police simultaneously raided the house of Frederick Sabella, 45, married, resident of Purok 7, Barangay Maputi.

Operatives recovered seven sachets of suspected shabu and the P500 buy-bust money.

A regular employee of the Department of Agriculture in Naawan, Sabella has been on the drug watchlist since the start of the drug operations in 2016, according to Bastatas.

During the operation, Sabella tried to elude the arresting officers by biting the hands of the three policemen when he was about to be handcuffed, Bastatas said.

Police said Sabella's mother thanked them that he was finally arrested. — BM, GMA News