Operatives from various law enforcement agencies scored arrested of a suspected big-time illegal drugs distributor in Dumaguete City, the capital of the province of Negros Oriental Wednesday.
Arrested was a certain Isaac Torres Gara, 47, married, a resident of Purok Kawayan in Barangay Taclobo, Dumaguete City, said Insp. Janelito Marquez of the Provincial Anti-illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group.
Seized from Gara were two large heat-sealed transparent plastic sachets or bolto (street slang for a certain volume of drugs) containing white substance believed to be methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu in granules and powder form, said Insp. Marquez.
The street value of a “bolto” of shabu is pegged at P27,000, according to the police officer.
Shortly after midnight Wednesday, joint elements of the PAIDSOTG, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Dumaguete police swooped down on Gara in Purok Kawayan, Taclobo in a drug buy-bust operation during which he was arrested while in the act of selling shabu to an undercover agent, said Marquez.
His arrest was witnessed by a representative from the Department of Justice, a member of the local media, and a barangay official.
Marquez disclosed that Gara was under tight surveillance for over a week now after reports reaching authorities said he was allegedly peddling drugs to students in the vicinity of two tertiary schools in the eastern part of the city.
The suspect claimed in an interview with reporters that he sourced shabu from a supplier based in Cebu and the person who financed his operations here was a certain Mario from Dumaguete who was earlier convicted of illegal drugs pushing and is now inside the national prison facility in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila.
Law enforcement agencies believe they were able to neutralize another loose group of illegal drugs peddlers following the arrest of Gara, Marquez said. (PNA FFC/Judy F Partlow)
