‘P102-million drug haul won’t affect Lapu-Lapu village’s ‘drug-cleared’ status’

Local

THE recent seizure of over P102 million worth of suspected shabu in Barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City, will not affect its status as a drug-cleared barangay.

City of Lapu-Lapu Substance Abuse and Prevention (CLOSAP) Chief Garry Lao clarified that the suspect, identified as 42-year-old Wilzen Messiah Regalado Credo, is not a resident of Buaya but of Barangay Lagtang, Talisay City.

In an interview with MyTV Cebu on Friday, November 22, Lao explained that Buaya merely served as the location where the operation was conducted.

“Kung atoang makita ang katong nadakpan is not from Barangay Buaya. They are from outside the barangay,” he said.

The clarification came following a buy-bust operation conducted just 10 hours after Buaya was declared drug-cleared by the Regional Oversight Committee on Drug Clearing on Thursday, November 21.

The committee, which includes the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and other government agencies, has so far cleared 14 barangays in Lapu-Lapu City of illegal drugs.

Based on reports, the buy-bust operation, carried out in Zone 7, Barangay Buaya, was led by the City Intelligence Unit of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office under Lt. Col. Mark Lester Eteroza.

Police confiscated 15 kilos of suspected shabu, valued at P102,340,000, from Credo during the operation at 3:06 a.m. on Friday, November 22.

The illegal drugs, packed in tea bags and stored in a traveling bag, were allegedly intended for delivery to a customer.(MyTVCebu)