ALBUERA, Leyte— Six sachets of suspected shabu were seized from a newly identified drug peddler during a buy-bust operation conducted by the Station Drug Enforcement Team (SDET) of the local police on November 16, in Barangay Poblacion, this town.
Police Captain Julio Tamayo, chief of police, identified the suspect as Primo Caparos, 49, single, jobless, and a resident of the area.
Caparos is listed as a street-level individual (SLI) in the Albuera PNP’s drug watch list.
During the operation, an undercover operative purchased a sachet of suspected shabu worth P500 from the suspect. A subsequent body search, conducted in the presence of law-mandated witnesses, led to the recovery of five more sachets of suspected shabu inside a small plastic container.
In an interview, the suspect admitted that he recently resumed selling illegal drugs after years of abstaining, claiming he had stopped during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte. He also confessed to being a drug user, saying his last use was on the morning of the day he was arrested.
Charges for violating Sections 5 (selling illegal drugs) and 11 (possession of illegal drugs) of Article II of Republic Act 9165, also known as the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, have been filed against the suspect at the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office in Baybay City. He is currently detained at the lock-up cell of Albuera MPS.
(ROBERT DEJON)
