ORMOC CITY– The Southern Leyte Provincial Drug Enforcement Unit (PDEU) and the Station Drug Enforcement Team (SDET) of the Macrohon police station apprehended an alleged drug supplier of the province and seized 19 sachets containing white crystalline substances suspected to be shabu.
The estimated weight of the seized substances was 29 grams, with a street value of approximately P200,000.
The suspect, identified as Melchor Maceda, 41, married, and a businessman residing in Barangay Ibarra, Maasin City was found in possession of five sachets containing a white crystalline substance suspected to be shabu, which was procured by an operative during the operation for P5,000 in Barangay Upper Ichon at about 7:10 pm.
Subsequently, during a body search conducted in the presence of an elected barangay official and a representative from the local media, 14 more sachets containing the same substance were discovered inside a coin purse concealed within a waist pack.
Maceda, in his statement to the media, disclosed that he had been released from imprisonment in Davao City after serving five years for illegal drug-related offenses, following the approval of his plea-bargaining agreement by the court.
He admitted ownership of the recovered evidence seized by the police during the operation.
According to the police, Maceda is allegedly one of the suppliers of shabu in the province, and he confessed that the substances recovered from him during the operation were the remaining portion of the 80 bulk of shabu he had already distributed to his patrons.
The suspect is currently facing charges for violations of section 5 (selling illegal drugs) and section 11 (possession of illegal drugs) of Article II of RA 9165, the Comprehensive Law against Illegal Drugs of 2002.
He is temporarily detained at the locked-up cell of Macrohon MPS.
(ROBERT DEJON)
